Resurrection
by ohsheilz
Summary: Bonnie Bennett is dead and Damon means to bring her back. But what if the witch he manages to bring back from beyond the veil has something latched onto her; a darkness that's not willing to let go. B/D pairing, rated M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is my first Bamon fic guys; takes place after season 5 premiere, which I didn't watch but saw the gist of. A little Beremy somewhere in between but fts its not gonna last. Hope you like it!**

* * *

Bonnie Bennett is dead. 

Damon blinked from his spot on the couch by Stefan. Elena sat on Stefan's other side. After realizing Silas was impersonating his brother and finding him a week later, the three of them, the permanent house guest Jeremy, and Caroline were sitting in the Salvatore living room trying to devise a plan to take him out. But since the most important person in the equation to take down Silas- especially since she had succeeded in rendering him incapacitated before- was notably missing, Jeremy _finally_ decided to drop a truth bomb none of them were prepared for. 

"How could Bonnie be dead? She's been with family for over three months now," Caroline said. 

Damon got up from his spot on the couch and poured himself a drink, dropping three ice cubes in the crystal glass. He downed it. Everyone else could try and be in denial for the next two minutes, but he would skip right to belief. 

"She's literally standing right next to me," Jeremy said, running his hands through his hair. "And she's pissed. She didn't want anyone to…feel bad."

Damon felt a twitch in his eye before turning back around, holding his crystal glass.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Bonnie?" Damon drawled to open space. "Your body has been rotting for three months and you didn't want anyone to feel _bad_? God, your martyr complex is insane. And now we've got some immortal douchebag wearing Stefan's face and no way to get rid of him. Top fucking notch, Bennett." 

"_Damon!" _Elena hissed. She was quiet, and her eyes gleamed with a puddle of unshed tears. Caroline already had a steady stream of tears were making their way down her face.

He glared at the spot he assumed Bonnie's nonexistent body to be standing at and then at Jeremy, who looked like he wanted to stab Damon in the neck. 

"Jesus, I was kidding. Trying to lighten the mood a bit." Mostly for himself. Because the knowledge of Bonnie's death sent him tripping into a pit of well hidden despair. He swallowed the almost full glass of bourbon in his hand before turning back to refill it.

The tears that had threatened to fall finally spilled over Elena's lids and down her face. 

"Not. The time," Stefan said. He reached over and grasped Elena's hand. He gave the little comfort he could offer after drowning repeatedly for the same amount of time Bonnie had left her physical body behind.

Damon ignored Stefan and continued to keep his back to the group.

"Why?" Caroline choked out through her silent sobs. She shook quietly in the corner of the room, all blonde and hypersensitive as usual; but who could blame her in this situation? This was the one moment where Damon didn't feel like pushing her off a cliff. He considered walking to her side and comforting her with his proximity, but thought better of it and downed another glass.

"She died…bringing me back," Jeremy said carefully. His eyes were filled with tears, but he didn't cry. Damon almost commended him in his grit, but remembered that he had had over three months to deal with Bonnie's sacrifice and then proceeded to fool everyone with the ruse of her travels. 

But it really made you think. No _real_ contact with any one of them, and the two were able to make them believe everything was okay? Damon shuddered. Just like he hadn't noticed anything was amiss with Stefan; he hadn't noticed that his brother- his own flesh and blood- was missing. They were all so caught up with whatever had caught their attention, mainly Elena for him, that they hadn't noticed that two of the most important people in their sad, obsolete lives were suddenly absent, or vague of their whereabouts, or uncharacteristically different.

Damon should have known. He should have known that something was wrong with Stefan, especially after his younger brother had selflessly sold his soul to Klaus to save him before. To hear about it first from Jeremy, and knowing that Bonnie was involved with that moment, brought an emotion into Damon that he couldn't quite describe. 

He barely listened to Jeremy rant on and on about how a balance had to be maintained as a witch's moral code. He gulped down the rest of the glass and poured himself another. _Even after Stefan had his humanity taken away, he had __**always**__ cared, _he thought to himself._ He continued to care about Elena and I. He had killed Mikael to __**save me**__ even when he knew he would still be a slave to Klaus._ But even after all of that, Damon forced vampirism on his brother's girlfriend because of his own selfish need and proceeded to take her away from him. To take her away from the only constant in his life; the only person who had continuously tried to save him throughout the decades.

And now Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

His hand halted before bringing the glass to his lips once again. 

Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

What had he thought about denial? 

He stared at the dark brown liquid swirling with the almost translucent solid cubes of ice. 

Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

No more witchy migraines, no more nagging, no more judging, no more moral code. 

Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

No more undying loyalty, no more powerful magic, no more sidekick, no more formidable allies, no more victories, no more reliability, no more passion, no more vigor. 

Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

He searched for something, _anything, _which could equate to Bonnie and came up blank. Any warmth that the hearth and alcohol gave his permanently chilled body drained at the full realization that Bonnie was gone. 

Bonnie Bennett was dead. 

He drained the glass once again. 


	2. Chapter 2

**So…continuing this story. I think it's going to follow Damon at the forefront until Bonnie is back, with some of her when Jeremy is around. Then it might be mostly Bonnie or 50/50. We'll see what happens. Let's goooo!**

**(also I own nothing besides my hopes an dreams for Bamon as engame sob)**

* * *

"We can bring her back."

The room silenced after Damon's declaration. He turned to finally face the group. He stood taut, and an irrational confidence reverberated from his body. Or was it delusion? Either way, the others were taken aback.

"Bonnie says that's impossible Damon," Jeremy piped in. "She had to die for my life. The outcome for hers would be the same!"

The hope in Elena and Caroline's eyes died as quickly as it had come; Caroline dissolved into a driveling mess and Elena gripped Stefan's hand tighter and turned her face away from Jeremy.

"No." Damon set his jaw and took an unintentionally threatening step toward Jeremy.

"We _can_ fix this." He looked briefly at Caroline, Stefan, Elena, and back to Jeremy. "We _can_ bring her back."

No one said anything to shake Damon's resolve. Damon stared at Jeremy as the boy looked into empty space.

Unbeknownst to anyone but Jeremy, Bonnie tried to reason that it was impossible, and even if it wasn't, that it was wrong. Although Damon's desire to bring her back confused her, she needed to focus on stopping it before it came to fruition.

"_No. _Tell him he can't do it, Jeremy. No witch has ever come back from the other side, who knows what consequences it would bring if you can even find a way!"

Jeremy shook his head reluctantly and glanced at Damon then back to Bonnie.

"Isn't it worth it to try? You brought me back _twice_, Bonnie. Don't you deserve the same chance? Don't you deserve to live too?" he implored, causing her to hesitate.

Did she deserve to live? She wasn't sure. She had upset the balance she was supposed to protect too many times. Did she _want _to live? Yes. God, yes. She hadn't been ready to die and she wasn't ready to be dead. She wanted so much more than her legacy as the magical fix. She had wanted to grow into her power; she had wanted to understand it, to control it, to love it. But she never had the chance. Should she let her friends give her one now? Was it wise to tip the balance again?

She never did learn from her mistakes.

Jeremy was still looking at her for an answer. Everyone else was too, or trying to. Caroline sniffed quietly in her chair as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Elena wiped away her tears with her free hand before they reached past her nose. Stefan appeared to be hanging onto reality by a thread.

"Please, Bonnie," Elena said. "Let us help you."

She looked at Damon and worried her lip. He stood straight while he waited for Jeremy to relay the answer; it was as if he was ready for her to put up more of a fight.

She had put her faith in him once before and it had saved her life. If anyone could find a way, it was Damon.

As if sensing her crashing resolve, Damon spoke up, "What's the matter, Judgey? Afraid it'll work and you'll be wrong for once?"

He spoke quietly but his trademark smirk appeared on his face. If the situation weren't so serious Bonnie would have rolled her eyes. But her life was on the line. She needed to make a decision.

"I want to," Bonnie whispered, still looking at Damon.

Jeremy's eyes widened and he leaned in closer to her. "What did you say?"

She turned back to Jeremy. "I want to come back. I want to live," she said a bit louder.

Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of actually being able to come back, but even more so at the possibility of not being able to after finally admitting she wasn't satisfied with what had been handed to her.

"I want to live," she asserted.

She straightened up to stand taller. She would see this through with her head held high. And if it didn't work out, well, she'd deal with that when- no, if- it came.

Jeremy let out a sigh of relief and reached out to touch her arm, but remembered the physical barrier and brought his hand back to his side.

He looked at Damon and smiled, "She said okay."

Pride flashed through Damon's eyes for a second before disappearing.

"Good. Because you never really had a choice in the matter anyways."


	3. Chapter 3

**I know sometimes I'll be reading a story and I just want it to get to the good stuff well that's exactly how I feel about writing too blegh. **

**Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

The end of summer was more noticeable the day after Bonnie had agreed to come back to life. It was still warm out, but a chill breezed throughout the town of Mystic Falls. Damon lay on his couch flipping through one of the grimoires left behind by a handful of dead witches; the body count for their kind was ridiculous. He thought back to the time he had ripped out the heart of one of his favorite witches so long ago. Favoritism didn't really get anyone far with Damon anyways.

_Oh, Bree_, he thought. _I half wish I hadn't kill you. You'd probably be of some use right now. _

But then again, she wasn't able to open the tomb for him when he wanted Katherine back, so it was doubtful she would be able to bring back someone who was dead. He flipped the page to the grimoire, trying to remember any other witches he had met and skipped over killing but was interrupted by Jeremy walking into the room with Bonnie- invisibly- in tow.

"Where is everyone?" Bonnie asked. Jeremy repeated the question to Damon.

"Stefan's in bed, Elena's watching over him, and Caroline is doing whatever it is she does when she's not around any of us. So probably irritating someone else, which in my opinion, should happen more often."

Jeremy half chuckled before catching the glare that Bonnie had redirected from Damon to him. He cleared his throat and picked up one of the many grimoires littering the coffee table.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked, absently scanning random pages of the worn book.

Bonnie eyed the old books, wishing she could pick one up herself and help with the cause. She spotted her grimoire perched nearest to Damon with a considerable amount of space away from the others. She knelt down beside it and let her hand hover over it as close as possible. She slowly dropped her index finger low enough to brush the cover of the book; for the briefest moment she imagined she felt the rough texture of it. She pulled her hand away, brushed absently at her cheek, and settled her hands in her lap.

"Nothing yet. I think we're going to need a helping hand of the witchy kind sooner rather than later. The only problem is I think all the ones I know are dead," Damon answered.

He snapped the grimoire in his hand closed and turned his head to Jeremy.

"Any names coming to mind, Wonder twins?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes before looking at Bonnie.

She grimaced but answered the question through Jeremy anyways, "All the witches I knew were killed by us."

Damon harrumphed and turned away from Jeremy to gaze at the ceiling. There had to be someone or some way to find one.

"What about Sheila?" he asked.

"Yes, she was one of them."

An awkward silence filled the room. Before Damon could clarify what he meant to ask, Jeremy was playing messenger once again.

"I haven't seen her here. I haven't seen anyone here. So I can't just go asking around."

Damon closed his eyes and pressed his index finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose.

_Fuck._ Damon sighed. He swung his legs off the couch and stood up in one fluid motion.

"Maybe Stefan knows of someone."

"Is he in any condition to help right now?"

Damon mulled over the question. His brother _was_ in bad shape since getting out of his watery prison, but they didn't have time to wait for his recovery. Whenever that would happen. If that ever happened.

"Relax, I'm only asking him a question. Nothing my baby bro can't handle," he smirked wryly.

Both Jeremy and Bonnie looked at him skeptically, but didn't stop him when he walked toward the stairs.

Elena looked up from twirling her hair around her finger when Damon walked into Stefan's room. She sat at Stefan's desk while he slept.

"Did you find something in the grimoires?" she asked sitting up.

Damon shook his head and she slumped back into the chair. Damon went to stand at the foot of Stefan's bed. The deep frown that seemed to be permanently glued to his face was smoothed out to one of slight discomfort in his state of rest. His arm or leg twitched sporadically.

"How's he doing?" he asked Elena.

"He's in and out of sleep," she sighed. "He's doing better tonight though.""

Damon nodded, brows furrowing. He remembered the night he had compelled some construction workers to the quarry to lift out the safe. He stood on the side of the bank listening to the whirring of the machinery, watching the dark waters intently. Elena stood by him shifting anxiously. As soon at the safe had made it to solid ground Damon had ripped off the metal door. Stefan was in the middle of drowning once again before the water poured out of the safe drenching Damon's legs and shoes. Damon grabbed his brother by his jacket and hauled him out of the safe to stand in front of him; Stefan's knees buckled underneath him, and Damon had held him up as he coughed and spluttered. Elena ran up- crying from relief- and grabbed Stefan's face between her hands.

"Stefan!" she cried. "Stefan, we're here!"

Stefan's eyelids fluttered and rolled around in his head as he tried to gather his surroundings. Water still dribbled from him mouth. Damon gave him a sharp shake. "Stefan!" he barked. His eyes finally settled open.

"Damon," he murmured. He eyes shifted to his ex-lover. "Elena…"

The smallest hint of a smile flashed across his face before his eyes went in and out of focus and gently closed. After that initial night he hadn't been able to sleep, and if he did manage it was never over an hour; he'd wake up gasping, drenched in sweat, wild eyed, and thrashing at the bedding that covered him.

Damon didn't want to wake him since he was sleeping better tonight, but they were in desperate need of help. He walked around the bed toward Stefan and sat on the edge of the mattress. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder and gently shook him awake. Stefan's hand flew up to grip Damon's arm as his eyes flew open. Damon pushed him into the mattress while calling out to him to calm him down. After a second, Stefan released Damon- resulting in Damon doing the same- and let his arm drop over his eyes.

"Damon. What's wrong?" Stefan asked. He sounded perpetually weary due to his summer activities.

"I just need to know if you of any witches that can help us bring back Bonnie, then you can go back to sleep." Damon glanced back at Elena, who was watching them carefully.

Stefan used a second to rub his eyes and sit up in bed. "Any witches…no. No, I don't think so. We kill all the witches we come across, unfortunately."

Damon smirked ruefully. "That's what Bonnie said too."

Stefan looked as if he made to smile but it came out as a grimace. He folded his arms across his chest.

"What about that witch we asked about the sire bond?"

"Ugh, God no. That woman's a wet blanket; I doubt she'd bring Bonnie back. She probably wouldn't even know how. And she's weak."

"There was that witch I met- er, became reacquainted with- when I was with Klaus...Gloria. But-"

Damon snapped his fingers. "Gloria! I _completely_ forgot about her. Paying her a visit sounds like a great idea." Damon stood up from the bed but Stefan grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"She's dead Damon," he quickly threw out.

The wide smirk on Damon's face disappeared. Of course she was dead. Expressionless, he snatched his arm away from Stefan and turned his back to him. How long would it take for them to find a witch? How long would it take for them to find a witch that would actually _help them_? How much longer did Bonnie have to stay dead?

"Doesn't matter," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose once again. But then a memory popped into his mind. On one of his visits to see Gloria, the white haired witch had introduced him to a friend. She was a fairly new witch who wasn't as accustomed to her abilities as Gloria, but still held the promise of power. Damon had felt it from the moment her neat hand brushed across his skin; it was like a firework that ignited in his fingers and traveled throughout the expanse of nerves in his body. He turned around with his smirk back in place and arms spread wide.

"Doesn't matter at all. Because you, dear brother, just helped me remember another witch." He clapped his hands together and squinted thoughtfully. "Last I heard from her was…maybe ten years ago? Wasn't too keen on moving…maybe she's still there…"

"Who is she, Damon? Where does she live?" Elena asked, standing up.

"She did love to travel though…"

"_Damon._"

He was effectively pulled out of his thoughts enough to realize Elena was trying to talk to him.

"Hm? Sophia lives in Philadelphia. Didn't I say that? Keep up."

And with that he was walking out the door back downstairs to Jeremy and Bonnie with Elena following close behind him.

"Damon, wait."

He didn't stop walking. "Wait for what, Elena? I found a witch, now I'm going to see said witch."

"But-"

Damon pivoted around to face Elena and didn't budge when she slammed into his chest. He regarded her coolly as she pushed her hair out of her face and straightened out her clothes. Her lips were pressed into a thin line when she looked up at him.

"Why the 'waits' and the 'buts'? This is your best friend. She died to bring you back Jeremy. You want her back too?"

"Yes, but-," she started but Damon was already walking down the stairs.

"Exactly. So there's no time to wait and there's no time to talk." He reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at her once more. He was uncharacteristically serious and his voice was cool, yet firm. His blue eyes flared with determination.

"Its time to get this done."


	4. Chapter 4

**I imagine the cover image of this story to be like _The Last Supper _and Bonnie is Jesus and Damon is that one person on the left that has their head leaning to the side; like in the _Da Vinci Code_ they splice the photo and it looks like they're kind of cuddling with each other or whatever. And Elena is Judas.**

**Onwards.**

* * *

"So who is this Sophia chick?" Jeremy asked, sitting in the passenger seat of Damon's Camaro.

Damon, Jeremy, and Bonnie were on their way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to see if Sophia still resided in Germantown the next day. Damon would have preferred to make the trip without Jeremy, but seeing as how he was the ghost whisperer, the vampire had convinced Elena to let him bring him along. It was only a five to six hour drive from Mystic Falls to Germantown, but something about the young Gilbert grated on his nerves like it had already been a couple of days of driving.

Maybe it was his naivety even though he had died almost as many times than fingers on his hands; no matter how often the kid had been killed and brought back to life, he always maintained some sort of ingenuity. No matter how many people he loved ended up in the cold, hard ground to leave him behind to come to terms with yet another abandonment, he still held a foolish optimism.

Or maybe it was because he reminded Damon of a time of innocence before all this supernatural nonsense, before his eternal feud with Stefan, before Katherine, before the war. Jeremy reminded Damon of himself before his father crushed most of his spirit. He reminded Damon of Stefan before he had done the same thing to his younger brother.

"Sophia is not some _chick_, Jeremy," Damon sneered. He had one arm thrown lazily across the steering while his other was propped on the door so Damon could lean his head on his fist. "She's a very, _very_ powerful witch. And she's been around for, well, a long ass time."

Jeremy offered an impressed face before turning to watch the trees blur by. Bonnie sat in the back of the car twiddling her thumbs, feeling like some sort of awkward third wheel. She hated that she had to talk through Jeremy all of the time, but Sophia intrigued her. She hardly met any witches, and clearly none of the ones she encountered lived long enough to learn from.

That was why she didn't mention Lucy yesterday; she loved her cousin, and didn't want her anywhere near this sort of mission. Bonnie herself hadn't been powerful enough to bring someone back to life and survive with her own power, so she was almost certain Lucy wouldn't be able to either. If this Sophia woman didn't seem up to the task, Bonnie would tell Damon to leave her alone.

"Ask him how he knows her. Ask him how he knows she's so powerful," she said to Jeremy.

Jeremy glanced at Bonnie through the side mirror before asking Damon the question. He lifted his head up and rubbed his chin with his free hand for a moment.

"I met Sophia in the late 1960's through a 'friend'. She came here from France. Her powers had been subdued for a long time. By her mother. But it grew so much that it started leaking out inadvertently. The first time I held her hand…the rush I felt even though she was still bound…it was unadulterated power."

Bonnie nodded even though she knew Damon couldn't see her. She knew the feeling he spoke of because she had felt it with Luka, Jonas, and Lucy. But it didn't only apply to witches; she felt somewhat similar rushes with Stefan and Ben, but they were denser…darker. Colder.

"That's how I knew what you were," Damon continued, pulling Bonnie out of her reverie. "When I tried to grab Emily's talisman back. But it was different from when I felt Sophia's; hers was a light jolt- like a handful of pop rocks on your tongue. But yours," Damon shivered.

If Bonnie hadn't been watching him so intently, she would have missed it.

"Yours was raw; it was _fierce_. _It burned me_."

He managed to hold back the sadistic smile that was pushing to spread across his face. From the moment he had let go of the scalding stone and looked up from his seared hand and into Bonnie's terrified eyes, he had wanted that power. All he could do was watch when she had scampered off in a panic away from him, away from her power.

_But she can't run forever_, he had thought to himself as he drained some poor sap of ever drop of blood in their body after his encounter with the new witch; God, she had left him so parched. _And when she stops running I'll be there to claim it for myself_.

_Maybe she should have tried a little harder_, he thought now.

Because now she was dead and she had seen almost everyone in her family die. And now he was taking a road trip with Jeremy Gilbert, having some weird two-person conversation with three people. He felt like it was a set up for some bad joke. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

But then he started thinking about all the times Bonnie had showcased her power and secretly impressed him, even though she wasn't even at her full potential yet. He would get her back to the world of the living and he would watch that power continue to grow.

Meanwhile, Bonnie sat in the back seat, failing at biting back a smile, and looking at her hands. Jeremy watched her with a quirked eyebrow for a beat and chanced a look at Damon; he was watching the road in languid amusement, but every so often he would check the rearview mirror to look into the back seat, although all he saw was black leather.

Uncomfortable with the mood that had settled in the car, Jeremy asked, "What was Sophia like?"

Damon pulled his eyes away from the rear view mirror and back to the road, unconsciously licking his lips.

"Sophia was…_delicious_." The smile on Bonnie's face disappeared and her lip curled in contempt. He looked at Jeremy. "They're not exaggerating when they talk about French girls."

_Women back then_, Damon thought, _had a certain flavor to them._

From the moment Damon had brought Sophia's hand up to brush his lips against, they had been more than friendly. At the time he couldn't help it; she had looked delectable in her white mini-dress, so_ pure_. Just like her power. Her skin reminded him of dark chocolate. He kept his eyes trained on her; the electricity of his gaze had made her heart thump noisily in chest. She made him tingle all over whenever they touched, and that was often.

"Mon prince noir," she would breathe as he kissed up her thigh after he'd pulled off her panties; her long eyelashes would flutter against her cheeks before her eyelids clenched in ecstacy. His lips, mouth, and tongue would be filled with static hours afterwards. And when he drank from her? His blood buzzed inside of him for days.

"Oh, Sophia," Damon murmured, rubbing his lips as he grinned wickedly. "Vous étiez mon bonbon préféré."

Bonnie- having taken French and understanding what he said- rolled her eyes in disgust.

* * *

Damon turned the car onto a path leading up grassy hill. He bobbed his head softly to Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" playing on the stereo while eating a bag of pop rocks. Jeremy dozed beside him and, seeing as she had no one to talk to or through to, Bonnie laid in the back seat with her feet on the leather mouthing various spells she had learned when she was still breathing.

The trio pulled up closer and closer to Sophia's 1880 Victorian home; sitting in her driveway was an indigo 1968 Mustang fastback. Damon shook Jeremy awake, informing the two that she was home. Jeremy cracked out a yawn, stretching as much as possible in the small amount of space. Bonnie sat up and pushed herself forward in her seat to look between the males' heads.

Trees surrounded and covered the hill; their leaves were just starting to turn into the familiar colors of browns, oranges, and yellows for fall. Not far from the Mustang, there was a flight of stairs made of wood and stone built into the side of the hill. Damon parked his car not too far from Sophia's vehicle and killed the engine. He looked at Jeremy.

"Are you guys ready?" he asked.

Jeremy smirked. "She's already waiting by the stairs."

Damon chuckled and the two climbed out of the car to meet Bonnie by the stairs and make their way up to the house.

* * *

**oop it's done already. Thanks for reading!**

**xoxoxoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so I took two years of French in high school. I know numbers, fruit, and random phrases. I used several translation machines to write this chapter so if you're a French speaker and its totally wrong I'm sorry D:**

**What I wanted them to mean, if they're wrong, is at the bottom of the chapter**

* * *

She was nervous. She didn't really know why. Its not like she had anything to prove and, even if she did, she couldn't. She was dead. Maybe that was what the problem was. She was dead. If Sophia suddenly turned on Damon and Jeremy, there would be literally nothing she could do about it; she would only be able to watch them die. The fear of the mental image coming true almost had her yelling for them to stop and turn back. She wanted to tell them that they didn't need to see Sophia, she could stay dead and not mind at all!

But being there with Damon and Jeremy, actually walking with them up to the house, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She had to stay strong. She always had to stay strong. So she stayed tight lipped and tense as they continued up the stairs.

The house Sophia lived in was now visible; it was a two-story building made of gray bricks and wood. They reached the top of the steps and followed the cement path to the front porch in silence. Bonnie marveled at the assortment of flowers and plants decorating the yard. The soft tinkling of several wind chimes hanging from the porch's roof traveled through the air along with the slow creaks from the old chains of the porch swing. The trio climbed up the steps and stopped in front of the red oak double doors.

Damon looked back to Jeremy, "Showtime, kiddies."

Jeremy swallowed hard and looked at Bonnie. Her expression was grim but she nodded. Damon pressed the doorbell.

Silence.

Bonnie could see Damon's jaw clenching underneath his skin.

"I can hear footsteps," he said.

They waited in tense silence for a moment more before the both doors swung open. The smell of sage wafted out of the house.

"Mon prince noir," a voice cooed. She stepped out into the light of the day.

Damon had said that she had been around for a long time, but she didn't look a day over forty; her face was devoid of any wrinkles. She had an oval shaped face with subtle cheekbones. Her eyes were the color of honey, and her full, round lips were quirked up into a mischievous smile. She was around 5'4" with the same chocolate brown skin that Damon remembered. She wore a semi-sheer dress made of dark purples, pinks, and blues; it trailed across the floor behind her and she held a handful of fabric in her hand to keep her path clear for her small, pedicured feet. A variety of long, beaded necklaces adorned her neck, and bracelets of similar style hung off of her wrists. Her thick black hair cascaded down to her mid-back in half curls.

"J'ai rêvé de toi," she purred. Sophia turned from Damon's smirk- who was now completely relaxed- to study Jeremy.

"Jeremy Gilbert," she turned to Bonnie, "and Bonnie Bennett."

Bonnie unintentionally took a step back away from Sophia and everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

"You can see me?" she whispered.

"I guess we didn't need you after all," Damon said to Jeremy, elbowing him in the shoulder. Jeremy shoved Damon away from him whilst grumbling for him to shut up. Sophia paid them no mind.

The smile on Sophia's face widened as she nodded once. There was a noticeable French accent when she spoke again, but it was watered down due to years of living overseas.

"I see many things. Both when I'm awake and when I sleep. I see the three of you where I once saw the three of you," she replied.

Bonnie nodded slowly and continued to watch Sophia in equal parts awe and trepidation.

"There's no need to feel afraid. We are sisters, you and I. You are most welcome."

She reached out and brushed Jeremy's arm. The contact made him gasp and he suddenly straightened up past his usual posture.

"As are you, Jeremy. I can feel the power of Vijaya flowing through your veins," she said to him. She traced the hunter's mark with the tip of her index finger whilst staring into Jeremy's eyes. He desperately tried to keep his composure even though it felt like a million tiny rockets were exploding and ricocheting across his nerves. Only when his body began to tremble did she break contact with him, smiling widely. She turned on her heel and started back into her home.

"Come. Pay no mind to Damon. He's always been mean," she said glaring playfully at him as she passed.

She intertwined three of her fingers with a few his own and started pulling him inside. The three followed her in. The smell of sage became much more concentrated, but did not stifle them. Straight ahead from the hallway leading to the front door was a flight of curving stairs made of the same red oak as the double doors.

Damon placed a hand over his heart as if he had been hurt, "I was never mean to you, Sophia."

"Oh? If memory serves me, you were always quite vicious. Ten years with no contact, and in that time Gloria was killed. Yet you did not call to offer your condolences; what kind of friend are you?"

"I never did anything you didn't like," Damon said. Sophia laughed heartily. "And I was just found out about Gloria yesterday, so you can't hold that against me."

Sophia hummed noncommittally.

If they had turned left they would have entered a small sitting room covered in bookshelves and decorated with sitting mats and plush pillows. Used candles were scattered about the floor and walls. Miscellaneous bowls were pushed against the walls. Instead they turned right into a spacious living room; it too had built in bookshelves and numerous candles, bowls, and incense sticks all around the room.

More sitting mats and pillows were placed around the room. A dark wood table sat in the middle of the room with antique chairs with cushion seats tucked into it.

Bonnie gazed around the room in wonder. She hadn't known to expect to expect from Sophia, but the house seemed right. It felt like a witch's house; there was a vibration in the air that she didn't need to be alive to sense. She could actually feel her surroundings. She felt as if she could feel the hardwood underneath her feet and the thickness of sage in the air when she closed her eyes. An astonished giggle pushed past her lips. She almost felt…alive.

When she reopened her eyes again, Sophia had dropped Damon's hand, stopped walking, and was staring at her along with Jeremy. Damon had tried to follow their line of vision but had given up to look at Sophia's collection of books. Bonnie cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Who was Gloria?" she asked.

"She was an old friend, but she was killed by a vampire somewhat recently. Qu'elle repose en paix."

Jeremy looked at her incredulously. "And you're okay with that?"

Sophia waved off the question dismissively. "She knew what was at stake when she let her true nature be known. As witches we must learn quickly how to keep ourselves alive. One wrong move and we are dead."

Sophia tsk'ed and gestured at Bonnie with her chin, "One wrong spell and we are dead. Tell me, how is it you came to see spirits?"

Jeremy squared his shoulders but the guilt on his face proved his part in Bonnie's death.

"It is not matter of if we will die, it is only when. Vampires or not."

Bonnie rubbed her arms self-consciously. Sophia was right. Since the moment her powers had bloomed, her life had been in danger. She had to watch Grams and countless other witches that did not succumb to a vampire's will die. Innocent lives had been taken merely because they were pawns in a supernatural game of chess. She didn't know how she had made it as far as she did.

Sophia drifted away to sit down at the head of the table. "Tell me why you have come, Damon."

The vampire placed the book he had been pretending to scan back on its shelf. "I need a favor," he replied.

"There would be no other reason why."

Damon shrugged, offering her his usual smirk. He walked toward the table and pulled out a chair before plopping down in the seat next to it. Jeremy moved to sit across from Damon, and Bonnie- reluctantly- sat in the seat Damon had pulled out.

"We need your help bringing Bonnie back. From the dead."

Sophia did not seem surprised. She watched Damon for a minute until she gently slapped the table and leaned back in her chair, turning sideways and throwing her legs over the arms of her chair.

"Impossible," she said in French.

"Sophia. Bonnie has done it twice."

"And now you come to me to revive her. I have many talents, but this is not one of them."

"I've seen you destroy mountains," he argued.

"My power is nothing to brag about until I can compel brooms to clean this house of their own volition without destroying it. Non, what you ask of me is too much."

Damon slammed his fist onto the table. Veins sprouted from his eyes as he growled at Sophia. Her eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Tu veux me tuer?" she asked incredulously.

"Ne pas me tenter," he snarled.

"_Damon!_" Bonnie hissed. Like he could even hear her. Jeremy, clearly confused, looked back and forth between the three.

Sophia threw her head back and guffawed. Damon's brow furrowed suspiciously. His face slowly reverted to normal and he pulled away from her.

"Je ne peux pas le croire!" she choked out. She continued to laugh for several more moments while the three watched her silently. "I can't believe it..."

She finally settled and wiped away tears of mirth. She opened her mouth to speak, looked at Damon and Bonnie again, and collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"What the hell is so funny?" Damon barked.

"Nothing, nothing," she laughed. She regained her composure but was still grinning. "Damon Salvatore…"

She studied him for a few seconds. He wanted to wipe that stupid smile off of her face.

He tensed when she raised her hand- afraid that maybe she had heard his thoughts- but an old leather bound book flew into her upturned palm.

Sophia stared into Bonnie's eyes. "You aim to upset the balance a witch is supposed to protect for the third time. Are you prepared for the consequences?"

Bonnie wet her lips. "I have to be."

Sophia swung her legs back to the floor. "Then I will help you."

* * *

**The French translates to this (I think):**

**"Mon prince noir"- my dark prince**

**"J'ai rêvé de toi"- I dreamed of you**

**"Qu'elle repose en paix"- May she rest in peace**

**"Tu veux me tuer"- You mean to kill me**

**"Ne pas me tenter"- Don't tempt me**

**"Je ne peux pas le croire"- I can't believe it**

The witch who spelled the hunters didn't have a name so I named her Vijaya, which means victor.


	6. Chapter 6

**Beware: much convo, much words.**

* * *

Bonnie sat in-between Jeremy and Damon on the front porch swing; the three were waiting for Sophia to finish collecting different ingredients for the spell she was going to use to resurrect Bonnie. Damon sat with his legs outstretched to prevent the swing from swaying; he had one arm on the back of the swing behind Bonnie- his fingers annoyingly tapping against the wood- and his other hand holding his chin. He glared out to the front yard, his jaw clenching every so often.

"What was that all about?" Jeremy asked to break the silence.

"Nothing," Damon ground out. Jeremy looked at Bonnie expectantly.

"I don't even know, Jer."

Jeremy sighed and propped his head on his hand. A few minutes later Sophia exited her house with a black duffel bag and keys in hand.

"I need to be taken to her body. I would like Bonnie to ride with me," Sophia announced, giving them the cue to leave.

Damon groaned but didn't argue with her as all three got up from the swing. Damon swept past Sophia without looking or speaking to her, but grabbed the duffel bag from her hand and threw it over his shoulder.

* * *

"When did you get this car?" Like Damon's car it had a black leather interior and was in pristine condition.

"When I was still young. Damon convinced me to buy it."

"Were you two…close? Besides the…you know."

Sophia laughed and Bonnie found herself genuinely smiling for the first time in a long time.

"Are you asking because he threatened to kill me or for some other reason?" Bonnie sputtered in disagreement but Sophia laughed her off.

"I might be giving myself too much credit if I were to say I was close to Damon, but maybe I was. That was only the second time he has _threatened_ to kill me and I've seen him attack for much less. He was very charming. He introduced me to a world I knew nothing about due to my mother. My ancestors were originally from Haiti. Witchcraft runs deep, but it was dangerous to practice; my mother wanted to keep me safe- keep me alive- and suppressed my powers.

Once I knew the truth of it, I left and came to America in 1967. Damon and I traveled quite a bit together- first to free my power and then to increase it."

"All of those books in your house…are they all grimoires you collected from traveling?" Bonnie asked.

"Some, but not all. Many of them are books about witches; accounts of witch-hunts, ancestry of witches, the influence we have had over the years. Its important to learn about our history, not just spells. Damon helped me find many of them."

She sighed wistfully and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "For five years we were together and I foolishly fell in love with him. One day, I decided to tell him. Do you know what he said to me? He said, 'Then help me get Katherine out of the tomb'. So I killed him."

Sophia cackled in delight while Bonnie questioned how trustworthy she really was. Sophia noticed her sudden unease and regained composure of herself.

"I did not love him enough to share, Bonnie. I was never that type of girl. I never will be."

"I killed him and then I left. I didn't see him for 31 years after that. He appeared on my doorstep 10 years ago asking for help to free Katherine and I refused once again. That was the first time he threatened to kill me; he must have forgotten how that ended by his actions today."

"What did you do?" Bonnie asked apprehensively.

"I started to make his brain dribble out of his ears!" Bonnie's face crinkled in aversion. Sophia's eyebrows knitted together and the humor in her eyes vanished.

"That's the only way to subdue a vampire, Bonnie. You show them your power; show them that you are capable of killing and not afraid of doing it. That is the only reason I am alive today. Never show weakness."

Bonnie stared at her hands on her lap. Looking back, it seemed all she had exhibited was weakness. She wasn't able to make the tough decisions. She wasn't able to kill. Her humanity made her merciful and it was probably the reason she was dead.

"You can draw power from anything, Bonnie. These necklaces and bracelets I wear may look like ordinary beads, but they are stones I use as conduits. I can store my power in them, and draw it out when I need it. Every second of every day, I put a fraction of my power in them. They are full of potential energy. I'm surprised Sheila did not teach you this."

Bonnie's head whipped up. "You knew Grams?"

"I did. But she had her views on magic and I had mine."

"She's dead. We opened the tomb for Damon and she took the brunt of the spell; it was too much for her."

Sophia tutted sympathetically. "Je suis désolée. We had our differences, but she was a good woman."

Bonnie murmured a thank you and looked back at her hands feeling tears welling up in her eyes. She had been able to see her when she first died, but for some reason she had been caught off from her. She had made it easier…dying. Now- when Jeremy was sleeping or occupied for some other reason- she felt the weight of loneliness suffocating. The ride was quiet for a few moments.

"Who had been teaching you about your powers then?" Sophia asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Bonnie quickly blinked away her tears and answered Sophia's question as calmly as possible, "Um, I'm self taught mostly. Grams managed to teach me a few things before passing but after that I had to learn by myself."

The older witch's eyes widened in astonishment at Bonnie's admission. "And you have performed a resurrection spell twice? T'es étonnante."

A shy, modest smile creeped onto Bonnie's lips. "Well the first time I had the power of a thousand dead witches. The second time I was on my own and I died."

"Wooow. I won't even ask about how you gained the power of a thousand dead witches. Who was the second person you resurrected? How did you do manage the spell?"

"It was Jeremy both times. I used Expression the second time."

"He died _twice_?"

"Mystic Falls is pretty eventful."

Sophia shook her head in disbelief. "And you used Expression? Who taught you?"

"This guy Atticus Shane. But he only taught me so I could resurrect Silas."

Sophia gasped loudly and almost slammed on the brakes. "Merde alors! You brought back Silas?! Non, non, non that's impossible…" She saw the truth in Bonnie's face when she turned to scrutinize her. Sophia's mouth slowly dropped open in horror.

"He's in Mystic Falls?" she whispered.

"I…yes," Bonnie answered softly. She watched as Sophia flexed her hands on the steering wheel. Tight lines appeared and vanished around her mouth, her eyes seemed to darken, and Bonnie could see the pulse in her neck pumping rapidly.

"I'll honor my word, Bonnie, and bring you back. But as soon as your heart is beating again I'm leaving. If you're smart you would do the same and not squander the second chance I am going to give you."

"I can't just-"

Sophia put her hand up to cut Bonnie off. "Bonnie, please."

"He murdered my father!" Bonnie protested. She would never be able to forget the image of her father's neck being sliced open. She would never be able to forget how quickly his blood had spilled out of his body and how she could only stand there screaming.

Sophia wet her lips and glanced at Bonnie, then at her rearview mirror. "Even as powerful as you are now- as young as you are- you cannot defeat Silas. Save yourself."

She left no room for argument as she sat stone faced watching the road, hands gripping the wheel tightly. Bonnie felt hot tears burn the back of her eyelids but she didn't let them fall. Sophia had told her not to show any weakness.

She wouldn't.

* * *

**More (faulty?) French:**

**"Je suis désolée"- I'm sorry**

**"T'es étonnante"- You're amazing**

******"Merde alors!"- Shit then (technically)**


	7. Chapter 7

Elena, Stefan, and Caroline were already waiting outside the cave with lanterns in hand when they arrived that evening. Sophia slid out of her car and popped the trunk; Damon grabbed her bag and carried it up to the rest of the team. Bonnie walked with Jeremy up to the cave.

"We'll have you back soon, Bonnie," he told her. "This is going to work."

Bonnie strained to give him a hopeful smile; she couldn't forget the advice Sophia had given her in the car. The rest of the ride to Mystic Falls had been filled with nothing but the sound of the engine, and Bonnie could only assume Sophia was afraid. That scared Bonnie more than she would admit, but she wouldn't leave her home. She wouldn't abandon her friends.

They spared no time for introductions. Bonnie led the group further into the cave followed by Jeremy, Sophia and Damon, Caroline, and Stefan and Elena. The sound of their footsteps against the floor echoed throughout the eerie stone labyrinth. They turned a corner and entered Bonnie's final resting place.

"Oh my God, Bonnie…" Caroline cried. She grabbed Elena's hand to keep the tears that were building in her eyes from falling.

Bonnie's body laid sideways on the cave floor, completely decayed and only leaving a skeleton behind; her jaw hung slanted toward the floor.

Sophia walked around to Bonnie's body, shaking her head silently.

"Not even a proper burial…but at least we didn't have to dig her up?" she muttered sardonically as she knelt by the skeleton. "Bring me my bag."

Damon dropped the bag beside Sophia and backed away, keeping his eyes on Bonnie's remains. He tried not to think about how she had died here alone, how she had to deal with her death alone, or how she had been on the other side alone. Those thoughts were useless now. Soon she'd be a living, breathing person.

"This spell I'm going to perform is not like the one Bonnie used for Jeremy," Sophia started explaining. "I will bind her spirit with whomever volunteers to bring her back. Then I will kill you so her spirit latches onto the immortality of your own spirit."

"Vampires only, huh. So I guess that rules you out, Jeremy. What do we keep you around for?" Damon said.

Jeremy ears turned red in anger but he didn't say anything to Damon's jab; he didn't have to anyways, because everyone glared at him to shut up.

Sophia began pulling out items from her bag: a large, black ceramic bowl, candles, and jars of copal, dandelion leaf and root, Echinacea, foxglove, mint, rose hips, skullcap, yew, and anemone.

"Place the candles around her body," she instructed Jeremy. She placed three incense sticks of skullcap on the floor and threw a handful of the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. She reached back into her bag and pulled out a large plastic box sloshing with liquid. She pried open the box and lifted out pieces of what looked like tan colored wet paper; small, ruby drops of liquid dripped from the corners of the slices.

"The skin of Gestas soaked in bayberry juice." She began to place the skin on Bonnie's skeleton. "It will fit to your bones and promote the growth of everything else."

There was a tension in the air as the group kept quiet as she prepared for the spell; they followed her movements uneasily as she continued to work.

She sat back on her heels once Bonnie's corpse was fully covered and took a deep breath.

"_Ignis_."

The candles around Bonnie sprung to life; the flames flickered in the dim of the cavern, casting distorted shadows along the rocky walls. Sophia lit the skullcap incense with one of the flames and quickly blew it out; wisps of smoke floated around the space of the cave.

"I'll start now by placing a sort of tracking spell on Bonnie to make it easier to bind her spirit."

Sophia rubbed her hands against her thighs and closed her eyes, reveling in the sensation of energy flowing through her.

"_Pharus phasmatis, reperiri in ténebris, praemostro, dirige nos_" she chanted.

Bonnie felt a lightness sprout in her chest and spread throughout her body. She could barely contain her excitement at the feeling.

_This is really happening_, she thought. _I can really come back_.

A smile made its way onto her face and she looked at Jeremy who smiled back at her just as enthusiastically. Suddenly, a tightness coiled around Bonnie's ankle. The smile died on her face.

"Wait," she said. "Wait, something's wrong."

"What is it?" Jeremy asked, alarmed. The rest of the group turned to him.

"What's happening, Jeremy?" Elena chimed in.

"I don't know. I just…I feel-" The invisible chain wrapped around her wrists and constricted around her abdomen.

"This isn't right! Jeremy-" Bonnie disappeared before Jeremy's eyes.

"Bonnie! No!"

Sophia gasped and her eyes shot open.

"What the hell just happened?" Damon shouted.

"The witches on the other side," Sophia murmured. She looked up at Damon from her place on the floor. "They've taken her."

"Why? Why would they do that?" Elena questioned stepping forward.

Sophia shook her head as her eyes darted back and forth on the cavern floor. "Perhaps the balance? Non. Something more."

"What does that _mean_?" Damon demanded.

"It means that things have just become more difficult; they've taken her farther away from here, further into the veil. Whoever goes in now has to search for her, find her, and bring her back here for the spell to be completed. You'll be missing any abilities vampirism has given you as well. There isn't much time. Who will go?"

"I'll go," Damon volunteered. Not a second of hesitation.

Elena took another step forward. "Damon, wait-"

Damon silenced her with a look. "You remember what I said about waiting Elena? There's still no time for it. You have Jeremy to take care of, Stefan is five minutes away from a mental breakdown, and I don't trust Blondie to get the job done."

Caroline started to protest but Damon raised his hand to stop her.

"I'm pretty sure Liz would want you home for dinner anyways. Just shut up. I'm going."

He turned to Sophia and ignored the knowing look in her eye.

"If she dies behind the veil, she's never coming back. No one will ever see or hear her again. You will have the same fate, if you die."

Damon gave a curt nod. "Avoid dying, got it. Now what?"

"You die."

She flicked her wrist and sent Damon's head swinging sharply to the side, effectively snapping his neck. His body dropped lifelessly to the floor.

* * *

**If you're still reading, thank you so much! Seven chapters in and they're finally making real progress getting Bonnie back. Hopefully you continue to enjoy the story. I don't know if Bonnie's body was ever buried so I just took some creative liberties with that. Left to rot :(**

**More (sloppy?) translations but this time its Latin! Yay spells. Stay tuned for the next chapter; I plan to get it done before the episode airs this Thursday.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ah, finally time to update. I got really busy with school. Thanks for the reviews and the follows!**

* * *

Damon watched Sophia cut into his left wrist and started draining his blood into the ceramic bowl full of witchy ingredients. Would that would even close up since he was dead? He had a feeling he was going to wake up hungry.

He observed Caroline and a still haggard looking Stefan try to comfort Elena. How far would she have been willing to go to bring Bonnie back if it weren't for Damon? He had been doing everything himself.

If anyone deserved to survive it was Bonnie, but she had selflessly given her life up. Honestly, she could do better than Jeremy…than all of them. But she continued to stay, and if she left she always came back. Damon could appreciate that kind of loyalty. He spun on his heel and ran out of the cave to find Bonnie.

He could feel her in his gut; it was like a compass pointing him in the right direction. He jogged through the woods he used to frequent when he first came to Mystic Falls; they were always crawling with innocent young victims waiting to be drained of blood. The longer he ran, the darker and quieter the woods became; closer to the cave he could hear the creatures of the wood from beyond the veil, but it was as if everything was dead- er, alive?- the farther he ran to Bonnie. Damon came to a halt- panting- and looked behind him toward the cave. He could see a beam of light shining into the dark sky. The air shifted.

"Damon."

He swiveled around, unnerved that someone had snuck up on him. Emily stood before him; her hair was still bound in the tight bun she always used to wear and she was dressed in the thick white night gown she had died in. Her hands were folded against her front stiffly. She pursed her lips in ire and glared at Damon.

"Emily…"

"You said you would protect my descendants, Damon."

"Well, if you can't tell, I'm trying to right now."

"This is not the first time you have gone against your word. The last time I saw you, you almost killed her."

"You had destroyed what I had thought to be my only way to get Katherine out of the tomb! Where have you been the whole time she's been here? How about you stop berating me and actually _help me find Bonnie_?"

Emily shook her head and looked into the distance behind her. "I do not know where she is. The other witches have been hiding her away from the moment they had the chance."

"Why would they do that? _How_?"

"I am not sure…I cannot provide any answers for we share the same questions. You must hurry, Damon, she does not have much time." She offered him a small knife.

"What happens if we die here?"

"The body your soul manifests will disappear and you will cease to exist."

Damon gritted his teeth. _Of course_, he thought bitterly.

"Do not forget what you promised me before you watched me burn."

Damon watched her disappear after delivering her cryptic message with a clenched jaw.

_Fucking useless witches and their riddles_, he thought to himself. He rubbed his temples in irritation- keeping the uncomfortable roll of worry in the pits of his stomach- before he started running again.

Bonnie cracked her eyes open and was met with darkness. She let out a relieved sob but didn't let her guard down. She was sure that at any moment the hallucinations would return. How many times had she watched her grams die? How many times did she rewatch her father's neck split open?

Tears leaked from her eyes and made their way down her face toward her ears, as she lay sprawled on the hard floor of a dilapidated shack deep in the forest. When she had tried to run they had rendered her legs useless; they were now bent unnaturally and bloody from the teethed shackles they had put her in just in case she was strong enough to crawl away. Her feet were painfully rotated inward as if she was severely pigeon-toed.

She pressed the bottom of her palms into her eyes as quiet sobs started to make her body quake.

_Please_, she begged to a god she didn't believe in. _Please make it stop_.

The door to shack scraped unevenly against the floor. Bonnie's breath hitched in her throat at the sound. She peeked through her fingers to see who had entered- hoping deep, deep inside of her that it was one of her friends- but was greeted by the group of witches that had been torturing her since they had dragged her away. Her heart dropped even though it had already hit bottom the moment she died.

The group was made of witches of various sizes and ethnicities but all shared the feelings of animosity against Bonnie; none of them pitied her or blinked an eye at her suffering.

The leader of the group- a decrepit witch with jaundiced skin and thin gray hair- stepped into the shack, using the flame erupting from her hand to light a path; the group parted for her to pass through. She scrutinized Bonnie for a moment then nodded her head. Several witches with rope knelt beside Bonnie and sat her up.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie rasped as they began to tie her arms behind her back and wound the rest of the rope around her body.

They didn't answer Bonnie, but lifted her up and dragged her out of the shack. She tried to discreetly test the strength of the rope and found it too tight to break from. She struggled to keep her breathing steady. The moon shone throughout the woods as they walked through them until the trees stopped and they had reached a lake. The hag walked the group to the edge of the bank and turned to the gathering.

"A vampyr, one of the first abominations, comes to recover this witch." Her voice was deep and strong, unlike her appearance. It reverberated with the familiarity of command. "We must protect the balance. The only way, it seems, is to eviscerate her soul."

Bonnie stared wide-eyed at the old woman. She struggled to be free of the grips that held her as she was dragged closer to the river. Her skin was rubbed raw against the coarse rope. Two more witches broke from the pack to tie a large boulder to Bonnie's waist.

"You will become a wisp; energy with no thoughts nor voice. You will flow through this world and the last; that is how you can reunite with those left behind. Take solace in that." She raised her wrinkled face and closed her eyes. "Circle of seasons from dark into light," she started.

"No. No!" Bonnie cried. More tears spilled from her eyes. Would it do any good to beg? Had it ever?

"Remind us forever of the balance of life," the women finished.

They threw Bonnie into the lake.

* * *

Damon heard Bonnie's scream echo through the night air of the woods. A stab of fear went through him and he pushed himself to run faster through the thickness of leaves and wood.

He could feel her light, but it was fading. He tried to force the overwhelming dread for Bonnie to the back of his mind so it didn't paralyze him. He broke through the woods into a moonlit clearing; his eyes scanned the area and landed on the lake in the middle of the clearing. He automatically vaulted toward the lake and dove into the cold water.

He could see Bonnie somewhat far down below; her dark hair waved to him as she was dragged deeper and deeper into the inky abyss. He swam as quickly as he could to her sinking body and grabbed her arm- grunting when she was too heavy for him to swim back up with. If every damn thing involving witches wasn't so inconvenient he could have lifted her the hell out of there twenty seconds ago.

If he had his vampire abilities he could have made it to her before it had even gotten this far.

He swam down to her back and cut through the rope the boulder was connected to. The ropes unraveled and fell away from Bonnie's still body. Damon pulled her to his chest and kicked his way back to the surface. He crashed through the water, gasping for the much-needed oxygen his lungs burned for. He paddled back to shore as quickly as possible, look down at Bonnie every so often.

_Shit_, he thought to himself. _Shit, shit_!

Her face was sallow and her lips were tinged blue. She wasn't breathing.

Damon dragged them both onto shore- drenched and dripping- and dropped to his knees. He hurriedly placed Bonnie on the dirt floor and immediately started CPR.

"Come on, Bonnie. Come on. Come on," he pleaded.

He stopped compressions and breathed into her mouth. He sat back, searching for a change in her condition. There was no response. He started compressions again. He breathed for her again.

Still no response.

"No, no, no, no!"

He restarted compressions. He imagined her never waking up despite the pressure he desperately pressed onto her chest. He imagined her physical form slowly disappearing underneath his hands, forever lost behind the veil. Would he be able to leave this dark world empty handed? Would he even try?

"Dammit, Bonnie, _breathe_! Don't you dare leave me here…for fuck's sake, BREATHE!"

He slammed his fist onto her chest. Her body jolted upwards and water splattered out of her mouth; liquid continued to bubble out of her bloodless lips as she settled back onto the hard floor.

Damon let out an astonished exhale and swiped her bangs out of her eyes. He cradled Bonnie's face in his pale hands, watching her as her eyes fluttered open.

"…Damon…?" She managed to wrap her hand around his wrist. "I can feel you…"

"We're still behind the veil." He tucked a wet strand of hair sticking to her cheek behind her ear. "I came to take you home, Gretel," he answered softly.

Bonnie smiled weakly. "I don't think…breadcrumbs….are gonna cut it."

"Mmm its more of a bat signal situation leading us back." Bonnie's eyes started to drift close. "Hey. Bonnie stay with me." He shook her head gently but her hand dropped from his wrist and she lost consciousness.

"Fuck."

Damon looked up from the young witch to search for his guide back to the other side. He scooped her up and started heading toward the light.

* * *

**Chapter 8 finished! The little thing the witches recite is the end of this one poem "Circle of Life" by Shelly Middleton. I just changed the "remind us forever of the circle of life" to balance of life.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I hope you didn't think it was going to be that easy.**

* * *

He had to stop to rest. The fact that he was burdened with a disgustingly human body in this situation made him want to play a round of "the most dangerous game" when he got back to the other side, but still had him looking over his shoulder for any sign of danger every five seconds. He was so ready to be rid of this place.

He managed to find the Salvatore tomb and pushed his way inside. He gently placed Bonnie on top of the stone casket in the middle of the room and sat next to her. He sighed deeply, rubbing his face with both hands. He would give himself one minute- maybe two- to regain some strength and continue his trek.

Bonnie stirred next to him, groaning in pain. Damon quickly turned to her, placing one hand on the other side of her body and the other on her face, calling her name.

Her eyes creaked open and she was able to focus on Damon after a moment.

"How are you feeling?"

Bonnie groaned again but tried to sit up.

"Maybe you should chill for a little bit," he said, trying to lie her back down.

"Are we still behind the veil?" she asked settling back onto the stone.

At Damon's nod she was back to struggling against his hand to sit up. "We have to get out of here before they find us."

"They left you for dead, they probably don't even know you survived."

Well, he didn't exactly believe that. She had a point, but she had almost just died drowning. How messed up was that? Damon would bet that at least one-third of those witches had been sent to their watery graves to reach here.

"How does this place even work?" Damon inquired, helping her sit up instead of trying to keep her down.

Bonnie was still Bonnie, and even if she didn't have her powers and was running on soul fumes she would still put up a fight until she passed out from exhaustion. Damon figured it would be better to keep her busy where she was so she didn't feel like time was being wasted.

"What do you mean?"

"Like how are we able to interact with objects? How were they able to throw you in a lake?"

Bonnie rubbed at her temples. "This is a completely different world…sort of like a parallel universe. So everything here is exists in a separate realm from the other. The reason ghosts can't interact with the other side from behind the veil is because, essentially, we're not really there."

Damon stared at her with a furrowed brow. Bonnie sighed.

"Think of the veil as a one way mirror between the two sides; we can look in from our side, but the majority of people can't see us. And sometimes- where the veil is thinnest or an individual is spiritually powerful- a spirit can reach through and mess with things on the other side."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Anyways, can you stop trying to distract me and let's just get moving?"

"Oh. Kay," Damon mouthed, his eyes widening a bit at her tone. He stood up and reached for Bonnie to quickly pull her up; Bonnie's eyes bulged when he grabbed her by the arms, and she was halfway through protesting, but it was too late.

"Wait- ah!" she yelped when Damon placed her on her feet.

She immediately fell against his chest, grasping his damp shirt. Damon hurriedly lifted her back up and sat her back down on the stone coffin.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked as he knelt down beside her.

Then he noticed her legs for the first time. Her jeans hid the blood for the most part, but he could blatantly see the awkward angles her legs and feet were positioned in. He reached out a hand and let it hover at the side of her calf.

Damon looked up at Bonnie in horror. Her right hand was clenched on her thigh and she was biting her lip to keep from crying at the sudden thousand stabs of pain shooting up her legs.

"Bonnie, what the _hell_?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath before addressing Damon.

"The witches...they've been punishing me for the way I've been using my magic. They've been torturing me. They've…made me watch people I love die."

Damon watched, bristling in rage, as she wiped away her tears and tried to keep her composure. If they were on the other side he would hunt them down, rip their hearts from the chest, and drink the blood right out of it.

But here the odds were stacked against them. And they were stacked high.

Damon gritted his teeth and stood up.

"Let's get out of here."

* * *

He and Bonnie jogged through the woods in silence; her arms were wound around his shoulders as he carried her bridal style. After about fifteen minutes of silence Damon decided to speak.

"I saw Emily."

Bonnie tightened her arms around his shoulders. "Did you see my Grams?"

"Uhh, no. There was a prominent lack of Sheila in my meeting."

Bonnie's arms slackened and she sighed. "What did Emily say?"

"She spouted the usual witchy jargon and told me to find you."

Bonnie sighed again. The soft crunching of the leaves beneath Damon's feet took over when the conversation lulled.

"How long did it take you to find me?"

Damon ticked off the time against Bonnie's back, trying to ignore the signs of fatigue that were building in his body again. "Two hours. Maybe. Give or take."

Bonnie sighed again causing Damon to roll his eyes. She acted like she wasn't being carried all over the place. He huffed under the weight of her attitude and body but kept moving, albeit a little slower than before.

He tried to conceal his tiredness, but Bonnie was able to take notice in the change in pace.

"Do you need to take a break?" she asked him.

Damon huffed again and shook his head. It was Bonnie's turn to roll her eyes; of course Damon would never admit he was wearing out. She wanted to get the hell out of this side, but it was always better to pace yourself.

"When's the last time you actually broke a sweat running?"

Damon chuckled, wheezing somewhat. "I have no fucking clue."

"Let's just take a quick break, okay?"

Damon begrudgingly slowed down to a halt. Why he ever felt the urge to be mortal again was lost to him.

He placed Bonnie in front of a large tree that she could lean back on whilst he regained his breath. He walked back and forth with his hands laced on top of his head, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Bonnie watched him inquisitively.

"I'm surprised you're the one who came to find me," she said to him, making him stop in his tracks for a beat before he began to pace again.

"Sorry to disappoint," he responded dryly.

Bonnie'a brow wrinkled and she wondered if that's what her statement actually came across as, or if it was just Damon being Damon.

"I'm not disappointed I'm just…surprised," she finished lamely.

And a little confused. Its not like they were really friends, right? They had managed to stomach each other's company and become allies in the constant struggle for Elena's life, but that was it.

_And the fact that Elena let him come here- assuming she knew the risk…_ Bonnie shook her head, lost in her thoughts. _But he never really listens to her anyways does he?_

He never really listened to anyone, actually.

But she had to give him credit…he was probably the most competent out of all of them. She had wondered how she had made it so far with the life she led; maybe it was because of Damon.

Bonnie nibbled her lip and glanced at her hands before looking back up at Damon, who was now stretching his arms over his head. She cleared her throat.

"Thanks...for everything," she said clearly to him.

Damon's eyebrows shot up, surprised at her unexpected expression of gratitude, but he recovered quickly. He donned his usual smirk.

"Thank me when we get out of here. And maybe with something a little more substantial…like making Caroline's voice less shrill," he said, crinkling his noise.

"Okay, I'll let that slide until we get back. But…just in case something happens I want you to know that I really appreciate the effort. You're risking your life and I don't take that lightly."

"Your optimism is _extremely_ inspiring."

"Damon, please."

"_What?_"

"If it comes down to it, leave me behind. There's no point in the witches destroying both of our souls. I'm already dead."

"That reminds me: how are they even able to use their powers when you or Emily can't?"

Bonnie shook her head to keep the question from plaguing her and causing her to lose her train of thought.

"Just save yourself, okay?"

"Stop talking like that," Damon growled, walking over to crouch by her. "We're both getting the hell out of here. So shut up."

"But-"

"No, really, shut up."

He put up a hand to keep her from talking and surveyed their surroundings. Bonnie waited, silently and wide-eyed, trying to hear or see what had him suddenly on edge. After a few seconds, he gathered her up in his arms again and was back to running.

Bonnie could feel the change in his demeanor. Had they wasted too much time talking? Had she jinxed them by voicing her fears? She watched the woods behind them, bouncing in his arms, searching for the haunting flicker of flames in the moonlight.

Her arms tightened around Damon's neck at his sudden intake of breath; she whipped her head around to see the congregation of witches that were out for her demise before everything went black.

* * *

**Those pesky witches. Will they succeed in their efforts to get rid of Bonnie? Will Damon be forced to leave her behind and save his own life? **

**Eternal gratitude for your continuous interest. See you next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I actually finished this the same night as I posted chapter 9, but since it was kind of a cliffy chapter I didn't know whether to post right away or not. I asked myself, "How can I help my readers enjoy this story the most?" Do y'all love the drama of waiting? Does thinking about what's gonna happen next make it more enjoyable when there's finally a new chapter? Tell me whatchu want so I know next time this happens. When I'm in the zone to write I type until I can't stop.**

**But I digress. Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

_Bonnie's eyes opened to take in the starry night sky; although the balls of gas were millions of miles away, they flared in the pitch-blackness of the galaxy. _

_Stargazing had always been one of Bonnie's favorite past times; she even used to own a telescope. _

_When she was still a child- and her mom was gone and her dad was busy- she would pitch a blanket fort in her backyard and leave the ceiling open so she could lie amongst the pillows and appreciate the universe. _

_Sometimes she would share the experience with her Grams or Elena, but she enjoyed it in solitude the most._

_Tonight she was with her Grams. She could hear the chirps of crickets dancing through the quiet night air. Her grandmother lay beside her, humming a song Bonnie couldn't catch and running her fingers through Bonnie's raven tresses. _

"_Your mother used to love to watch the stars when she was your age," Sheila mused._

_Bonnie's lips quirked up before falling into a straight line again. Nobody really talked about her mother, and most of the time Bonnie didn't want to hear about the woman who had abandoned her, but sometimes she would feel a small tug of yearning to know more about her._

"_Its common for witches to look to the stars; they help open our minds for divination."_

"_Oh gosh not this witch stuff again, Grams."_

_Sheila laughed at her granddaughter's disbelieve in the craft. "Well then why do you like to watch them?"_

_Bonnie mulled over the question. "I don't know. I guess because they remind me of how trivial my problems really are."_

_She thought about it a bit more in silence; Sheila waited patiently for her to finish._

"_Looking at them makes me realize there's so much more. To everything. And I like that even when they're so far away, I can always see them all the way down here. They'll always be there even when no one else is. Even when I'm gone. I may not contribute anything to this world before I die but at least the stars were there to watch over me."_

_Sheila squeezed Bonnie affectionately. "Baby girl, you were destined for greatness. Don't you forget that." _

_Bonnie snuggled closer to Sheila, reveling in the smell of chamomile and lime. She missed that smell._

_She missed that smell?_

_She quickly sat up, breaking away from Sheila's comforting presence._

_ "What's the matter?"_

_Bonnie snapped her head around to look at her grandmother and shrieked in horror. Sheila's body had begun to decay at an exponential rate; her skin became papery thin and pulled tight against her bones; her cheekbones became more pronounced and her lips shriveled away to reveal her gums and a full set of teeth; her eyes caved into the hollow circles of her skull._

_ "Ready to go inside already?_

Bonnie startled awake but was restrained by the ropes tied taut against her body. She looked down to see that she was tied against a wood post. On top of a pyre.

_Oh, God._

She breathed heavily as she tried to move her arms, but they were restrained behind her. Where was Damon?

"The balance must be maintained at all costs."

Bonnie whipped her head up at the familiar voice. The old witch that continued to abuse her stepped from the shadow of the trees into the moonlight with her sect. Five of them carried torches.

"Where's my friend?"

"You worry for the vampyr. He is here."

A woman- at least six feet tall, with long, auburn hair and defined muscles- dragged him forward, face down on the floor. She tossed him a few feet closer to Bonnie's pyre. Bonnie's fear was quelled a bit at seeing his body. At least he wasn't completely dead…yet.

"He will follow you into extinction."

"Just let him go, he hasn't done anything."

"His very existence is a slight against the balance. Against nature. We will not suffer him."

Bonnie watched helplessly as the five witches walked forward with the torches.

How could she possibly escape from this?

They threw the torches. The branches landed on the bed of dry straw and ignited it instantly.

The flames rose quickly, licking at the air around Bonnie aggressively. She pressed herself closer to the wood block she was bound to in a futile attempt to keep away from the flames. They were coming for her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She never had the power to save who really mattered. Not even herself.

And suddenly he was there…her father. She could see him above the rising flames; the orange blaze reflected in his dark brown eyes. Bonnie knew what was coming next.

As if on cue, Silas appeared behind Rudy and grabbed him around the head to pull it back and reveal his neck. No matter how much Bonnie wanted to look away and ignore the scene she had seen far too many times, she couldn't.

She screamed as the blade swept along his neck and crimson poured from the mortal wound. She hung her head and sobbed. Was that going to be the last thing she ever saw?

"You're so weak," Silas whispered into her ear.

Bonnie's sobs hitched in her throat, but her tears continued to fall. He had never talked to her before…he had never come this close to her.

"You call yourself a Bennett? It must be your father who watered down the bloodline."

Bonnie clenched her jaw. "Shut up. You're not real."

"Oh, _I_ may not be real, but those flames sure are. It's getting awfully hot here, isn't it?" He pulled the collar of his black shirt away from his neck as if to air his skin off.

Bonnie eyed the flames that continued to grow.

"If only you had the power to save yourself. Isn't that what you want, Bonnie? Power?"

She shivered when his thumb grazed away a tear racing down her cheek. His lips brushed against her air, chilling her to the bone.

"The power to live? The power to save?"

It was what she wanted. She wanted it very much, especially now. She never had enough. Sophia had said that it was necessary; that it was the only way to survive- to have power, and to use it.

The flames bit at her mangled legs.

"You're just going to let yourself die here? You're just going to let Damon die? After all the trouble he went through to find you?"

Bonnie looked at Damon; he remained unconscious on the ground, unaware of the fiery fate Bonnie was about to meet.

"They're going to _kill him_ Bonnie. Just like I killed your father," he laughed pompously.

"No…" Bonnie muttered, straining at the ropes again. "No, I won't let him die."

Silas placed his hand on her shoulder, his fingers skimming her collarbone.

"How, Bonnie? How will you do it?"

She took an unsteady breath and turned to look into Silas's eyes. They mimicked the flames that were overtaking her. The weight of his hand was heavy on her shoulder. She was losing herself in his presence- or whatever it was.

"Power. I need more power. I…need all of it."

A maniacal grin unfurled on his face. He placed a sloppy, wet kiss on the corner of Bonnie's left eye and disappeared.

She lurched forward. A wave of heat that was not the flames spread from the tips of her toes to rest of her body, causing her to close her eyes in exhilaration. The flames roared to life, skyrocketing 50 feet toward the sky.

Her legs started to snap back into their proper position, but Bonnie never flinched. She couldn't feel a single pin of pain for all she felt was euphoria, as if the purest heroin was shot into her starving veins.

Black lines started to branch out across her skin and crept up to her face. The ropes that held her fell away and charred in the flames.

* * *

The group of witches had scurried back in alarm at the sudden raging of the Bonnie's pyre flames.

"What's happening?" one of them cried, but received no answer.

They drew close together, murmuring in hushed voices waiting for the flames to calm. The old hag kept her position at the front of the group, close to Damon.

Her eyes bulged in fear when darkness overcame the brightness of the fire and it became a palpable inky inferno.

Bonnie stepped through the black flames on shaky feet. The veins had spread all the way into the center of her eyes; her pupils were slowly expanding, swallowing the green of her irises and overwhelming the white of her eyes.

"I-impossible!" Bonnie's tormentor stuttered, taking a wobbly step back.

The soft murmur of the witches turned into uproar. With a snap of Bonnie's fingers they were encased in black flames, screeching in agony as the blaze burned them alive.

"There's no point in trying to escape," Bonnie said to the woman. She held her steadfast to her standing place with little effort.

"You-you can't do this! The balance-!"

"To hell with your balance," Bonnie snarled, taking tremulous steps forward to stand in front of her. "It no longer applies to me. It never will again."

Her hand shot forward and her fingers wrapped around the woman's wrinkly, flabby neck. She took in a deep breath of air at the contact.

"Concordia. That's your name? Wow, you really do come from a different time."

"How…did you…?"

She ignored Concordia's question. "I can feel your power underneath the weight of the veil," Her lashes batted furiously as she read the woman. "There's so much. So defined…I need that kind of power."

Her grip tightened on Concordia's neck and started breaking her bones; her nails bit into her skin and drew small beads of blood. Concordia sputtered and uselessly struggled to pry Bonnie's hand off of her. She looked into Bonnie's eyes, choking, and saw no light, only death.

Bonnie drew her free hand back and showed Concordia a disparaging smile. "I'll just borrow yours."

She thrust her hand into Concordia's chest cavity, nicking open one of her lungs. Blood bubbled out of her thin mouth and dribbled off of her chin and onto Bonnie.

The girl squeezed her heart making Concordia spasm painfully, and then she ripped the organ out of her body.

The dead witch slumped in Bonnie's hand before fading away into the wisp she spoke of. Bonnie held her hand out, and the energy gathered in her bloody palm.

She looked up as the energy from the other witches flowed into her hand and blended with Concordia's. It phased into her, making the black veins across her body pulse hypnotically. She swayed underneath its magnetism and gazed at the twinkling stars.

"That is what power feels like," Silas said, reappearing by her side. He motioned to the dwindling black flames that had ended the witches.

"That is what power looks like. The power to conquer….the power to destroy. To be used against those who have wronged you. You said you wanted this, Bonnie. You said you wanted all of it. So take it. Take it all."

* * *

**Well, Bonnie has left the building and the black veins make a reappearance. Poor Concordia..did she deserve that? Probably. If that wasn't actually Silas, who or what was it? Does this mean that Sophia can finish the spell now?**

**I love you guys. Thanks for reading and see you next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hellooo my lovelies: lovelies from the beginning, lovelies who have just joined. This weekend I had to choose between playing assassin's creed IV on my brother's new PS4 or writing and, sadly for you, I chose the former. I also did not do homework or study for my exam but what can you do.**

* * *

The black of her pupils slowly shrunk into their original size as she lay next to Damon- who she had flipped over, their shoulders touching- still staring at the stars. She waited for him to finally wake up, unperturbed by what she had just done.

_I was strong…strong enough to save Damon and strong enough to save myself. And once I get back, I'll become strong enough to kill Silas and anyone else who hurts me._

She continued to bask in her victory until Damon came back to consciousness.

"Holy- Bonnie." He startled away from her and sat up when he noticed her beside him. "What the hell happened? Where are the witches?"

"I got rid of them."

"How?"

"With a little help." Her eyes stayed glued to the sky as she slowly turned to face him, until she finally dropped her gaze to him. "I have my powers back."

She sat up while still looking at him. There was something about the look in her eyes that kept Damon from asking the specifics on what happened and how she managed to get her powers back. He just really wanted to get back to the other side where he wasn't so vulnerable.

"Maybe we should get going," he suggested. He started to stand up.

"Its fine. I can get us there quicker. With my power." She held out her hand for him to take. He watched her for a moment before settling back down beside her and placing his hand in hers.

She studied their hands in silence, then looked at Damon and broke into a wide smile, curling her fingers around his hand.

It was so warm and genuine, like sitting on the front porch of a spring day; the sun wasn't scorching the earth yet but toasting it up pleasantly, the sound of cicadas buzzed throughout the town, and you would just laze on a chair basking in the day's simple glory.

Something in the pit of Damon's stomach began to flutter and, slowly but surely, he found himself beginning to smile back.

"We're going home."

She squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. And suddenly, they were back in the cave, sitting on the other side of Bonnie's body. Jeremy cursed and jumped back into the cave wall; Elena, Caroline, and Stefan stood up from their position on the cave floor as they waited for Damon to come back with Bonnie.

"How did you…?" Jeremy asked Bonnie.

"I got my powers back," she answered without looking at him, still holding Damon's hand. Her eyes met with Sophia. "We're ready. I'm ready."

Sophia looked at Bonnie suspiciously. "That's quite a feat."

"She's a real girl wonder," Damon said. "Sophia, please, get us out of here. I like existing and I'd rather not stay where that's in constant jeopardy."

"And yet you still live in Mystic Falls," Sophia quipped.

She side-eyed Damon but ignited the bowl of ingredients with her magic; the flames flashed gray after sparking, but returned to orange. She looked at Bonnie one last time with an indescribable expression.

"Remember what I told you on the way here, Bonnie."

Bonnie lifted her chin defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere," she replied, but remembered that Sophia was only offering her advice- _good_ advice.

Before Bonnie would have disregarded it because she wanted to help her friends, but now- after everything she had been through and everything she had seen, after that fake Silas had appeared and instigated her- she would stay for her father. She would stay for her.

She felt an itching in the back of her brain and her right eye started to twitch. Sophia continued to watch her closely, so Bonnie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"But thank you. We're ready," she repeated, opening her eyes to look straight into Sophia's.

"Yeah, five days ago," Damon muttered underneath his breath so only Bonnie could hear.

The French witch didn't question her any further, and started the spell.

"Relligo phasmatis, ut unum, duo phasmatis, duo vitas iunctus. Vitas Phasmatis, Ex Salito, Revertas Phasmatis. Ut Vectas, Vitas Phasmatos, Ex Salito."

The two souls vanished. Damon stirred from his position on the ground, groaning. Stefan, Caroline, Elena, and Jeremy stepped forward closer to Bonnie to see if there was a change in her condition, but there was none.

"Nothing's happening," Jeremy vocalized, looking at Sophia. She stared intently at the mass underneath the pickled skin and said nothing. She was just…waiting.

Bonnie's skeleton began to spasm violently, making the four standing up jump back in surprise. They could all hear the sound of the dry bones scraping against the rock floor.

The fire in the bowl flared fiercely; it reverted to the dark gray, spurting sparks into the dense air of the cave.

Damon sat up just as Bonnie's body started gulping for air. The skin that Sophia had laid upon it began to form against the bones, turning from the red of the juice into a dark brown then a dull caramel.

Sophia reached into her bag and pulled out a light wool blanket and draped it over Bonnie's forming torso.

The skin stretched over the skeleton until it looked like an emaciated Bonnie. Her nose grew out into the skin, allowing her to breathe through her nostrils instead of continuing to take large, gaping breaths through her mouth.

Her cheekbones were so sharp it looked like they were going to stab through the new skin. She now had eyelids, but had not grown any hair.

Sophia stood up from her spot after packing up all of her things as the fire suddenly went out.

"I'll take my leave now," she announced.

Damon jumped up and in her way before she could move toward the cave entrance. "That's it? There's nothing else you have to do?"

"The spell is completed. I only hope she is strong enough."

"What? What are you talking about, for what?"

Sophia shook her head, "I may be wrong…but either way. Go to her, she'll wake soon. I'm leaving."

Damon wanted to keep her there until she answered all his questions without the cryptic bullshit witches always liked to pull, but he had just come back to life and didn't feel like dying again. And he didn't want to be occupied when Bonnie woke up.

He weighed his options before finally losing out to being by Bonnie's side. He knelt by her seizing body and looked back at Sophia as she quietly departed.

What had she and Bonnie talked about on their way here? What did Bonnie have to be strong enough for?

He looked back at Bonnie and watched her face become suppler. Eyebrows and lashes started to sprout; her hair began to curl out of the top of her head. Finally she opened her eyes and gasped forward. Damon grabbed her by her upper arms, keeping the blanket over her body and trying to shake the delirium out of her.

"You're ok. We're back. Bonnie, you're alive."

Bonnie grasped the front of Damon's shirt, trying to ground herself. Her eyes were wild and she panted as she looked around the room to see everyone standing before her. Her eyes stopped on Stefan and her face twisted in rage.

"Silas!"

Before anyone could say anything, Bonnie swung her arm out and they were flung back against the cave walls with a hard smack.

She slowly clenched her hand into a fist, closing Stefan's throat and causing him to choke, unable to hear the screams of the others in her assault.

He kicked against the wall and grappled at his throat, fruitlessly trying to throw of the magical grip Bonnie had on him. His eyes bulged out of his head and his face reddened due to oxygen deprivation.

"Bonnie, no! That's Stefan! Bonnie, that's _Stefan_!" Damon yelled, shaking her by her arms.

She didn't hear him and continued to strangle Stefan. The pupils of her eyes began to fluctuate again and the veins in the tips of her fingers blackened.

"Look at me, Bonnie. _Look at me!_"

He forcibly turned her body toward him and she lost her concentration, effectively ending her mission to kill Stefan, but did not release her hold on anyone. Stefan tried to breathe in as much air as possible through his violent coughs.

Damon held her face in his hands. His eyes narrowed when he noticed her pupils shifting from oblong to circular and back; the blue of his eyes clashed with the emerald of hers.

Tears welled up in Bonnie's eyes before she clenched them shut, trying to focus on Damon's voice instead of the scratching at the back of her brain.

"You need to calm down. That's not Silas. Calm down. That's not him, okay?"

She nodded her head, shaking and breathing heavily. She released everyone and grasped Damon's shirt with both hands again. Stefan hit the ground and fell to his knees; Caroline and Elena ran to him to make sure he was okay.

Jeremy stepped forward to be by Bonnie, but Damon stopped him with one look.

"I'm sorry," Bonnie apologized. "I didn't…I'm sorry. I just want to go home. Can you take me home? Please?"

Her voice was so small, the quietest Damon had ever heard from her. She looked so lost when she reopened her eyes to gaze into his own that it made him forget the freakish movements her pupils were pulling earlier.

"Yeah…" Damon assured her.

He helped her to her feet but she still couldn't stand without assistance; her muscles were still building in her legs. He grabbed the edges of the blanket and wrapped it around her back then rotated them to the front so she could hold it up.

He looked at Stefan worriedly as they walked past before looking at Elena and said, "I'll see you at home."

Elena gave him a quick nod before attending to Stefan again. He was still on his knees and clenching his chest, but was breathing normally. Bonnie didn't spare anyone a second look.

The ride to Bonnie's house was silent; she stared out the window of the passenger seat the whole time, twitching randomly. Damon glanced at her every so often, unsure of what he could possibly say to her in a situation like this.

The sound of the car's engine filled the void as they drove through the moonlit night.

They pulled up to her house; her father's Lincoln still sat in the driveway of the two-story home. Damon hopped out of the car, helped Bonnie out of her side, and walked her to the door.

He heard the latch unlock from inside the house before she reached out and turned the doorknob. Using the doorway to steady herself, she stepped inside her house and twisted around back to Damon.

He had expected her to say goodnight to him and shut the door, so he was surprised when she quietly invited him in.

He thought about cracking some joke about how if he had known all he needed to do to get invited inside of her house was to bring her back from the dead, he would have arranged it a long time ago. A smirk started to rise on his face but he quelled it when he realized she was watching him. He held his tongue.

He hesitated on the porch but eventually stepped through the threshold into the dark, empty house. Bonnie blinked and the lights flickered on throughout the house; it smelled a little stale and there was a thin layer of dust on the surfaces. Clearly the house had not been in use for a while.

She reached out her left hand to him and they turned right into the living room so he could walk her to the couch.

"Are you sure you want to be alone tonight?"

"I'll be fine."

"You're not going to try to kill anyone else?"

She slowly set herself on the couch and looked up at Damon when he didn't let go of her wrist.

"I just want to be alone right now. I need to sleep, I'm exhausted."

He studied her small frame- it hadn't completely filled out to her original shape- then back up to her face. She did look exhausted; she had dark shadows underneath her eyes and uncommon wrinkles all over face.

Damon sighed and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. He slapped the device in the palm of the wrist he had yet to let go of.

"Call us if you need anything."

He dropped her hand when she nodded. He grabbed the cream blanket from the mocha sofa chair and threw it next to her.

"Make sure we see you tomorrow."

Bonnie stared blankly at the plasma TV screen as she listened to him leave the house and drive away. Her eye started to twitch again.

She felt oddly distant in her own head; she couldn't catch any thoughts, or maybe it was because she wasn't thinking at all. Was that even possible?

The black veins started to appear all over her body again. All of the lights in the house shorted out, the bulbs bursting and sending glass and sparks to the hard wood floors, plunging her into darkness. She unfolded the blanket and curled up on the couch to get some sleep.

* * *

Damon arrived at the Salvatore mansion walked through the hallway to the living room; Stefan, Elena, Caroline, and Jeremy sat on the couch and chairs, waiting for Damon.

"How is she?" Elena asks.

Damon shrugged. "Making it seem like she's better off than Stefan. Seriously, you look like shit."

Stefan tried to glare at Damon, but looked more tired than menacing.

"I can go check on her," Jeremy offered, but Damon shook his head.

"She said she needed to be alone tonight. I told her to call if she needed anything."

"Let's just get all go to bed. It's been a long day for all of us," Elena suggested. Damon was quick to hop on the idea.

"_That_ sounds like the perfect plan."

He rubbed his eyes with the bottom of his palm as Caroline said her goodbyes to Stefan and Elena. She walked toward the door with Jeremy and he let her out before going upstairs to his room.

Elena helped Damon carry Stefan upstairs to his room; she opened the door to the bedroom and watched them walk inside, but didn't follow them in. She closed the door behind them.

Damon led them to the bathroom. "I know you're afraid of water but you haven't been bathing on a regular basis since you've been back and you're really starting to smell."

"I don't smell," Stefan protested weakly. He put up a minimal amount of struggle as Damon pulled him closer to the bathtub.

"Chill, baby bro. I'm not dumping you in a tub full of water. Just a quick wipe down. I'm too tired to fight with you."

The first time Damon had tried to give Stefan a bath, he had acted like an unwilling dog with the strength of Clifford. The bathroom door had to be replaced because he had thrown Damon threw it in a fit of hysteria.

Eventually though, Damon had managed to persuade Stefan to enter the tub by emptying it out to one-fourth of the amount it could hold.

Stefan groaned but stepped into the tub. He slowly shed his clothing and sat inside his tub while Damon grabbed a basin and a wool sponge. He filled the basin with warm soapy water, dipped the sponge inside, and quickly scrubbed down his back.

"You do the rest," he said, dropping the sponge in Stefan's hand.

He left the bathroom and waited for Stefan in his bedroom, pulling back the comforter of his bed. Stefan trudged out of the bathroom and toward his bed a few moments later. He got into bed and Damon pulled the white cover over him.

"Get some sleep," he commanded, as if Stefan could even will himself to not pass out, which is exactly what he did.

Damon glided over to the antique wooden desk and dropped into the chair. He pulled out _Self Reliance _by Ralph Waldo Emerson to reread, but his eyes drooped halfway through the second page and he drifted to sleep.

Until two hours later he flipped over the chair when he jumped up from it, going into automatic fight mode when Stefan awoke from his sleep, screaming out of his nightmare.

He keeled over the side of his bed, retching out blood onto the floor from shattered nerves; a torrent of red evacuated his throat and splattered in a gory mess on the wood.

Damon rushed to his side and grabbed his shoulders calling to Elena to bring more blood up from downstairs when she rushed into the room. She was gone, hurrying downstairs to the fridge, in a blink of an eye.

"It was just a bad dream, Stef. You're out of that safe. You're home," he reassured.

Stefan's breathing began to even out, and he allowed Damon to push his trembling body back on the bed. Elena appeared a second later with a blood bag in one hand and a glass in the other. Damon left her to sit next to and feed his brother while he grabbed supplies to clean up the vomited blood.

He wasn't surprised that Stefan had relapsed; he had had that same on his face look during the first few days after he was saved that Damon saw when he was sitting on the couch. It was just…Damon really wanted him to get better. The relapses were disheartening.

But no matter how long it took, Damon would be there for him to help. He hadn't done a good job of taking care of him before, but now he could make it up to him.

He got back to the room and cleaned up the mess on the floor while Stefan slowly drank from the glass. By the time Damon was done, Stefan was entering another fitful round of sleep. Elena still sat on the edge of his bed, combing her lithe fingers through his hair.

"Do you think he'll be okay soon?" she wondered aloud to Damon. She hid her face away from him with a wall of her brunette hair.

Damon took the glass from Elena's hand and drank what Stefan couldn't finish in one swallow.

"I don't know, Elena."

He watched Stefan for a minute before sighing and walking out of the room.

* * *

**Love is patient, love is kind. LOVE IS PATIENT GUYS. So is bonnie losing her mind. (that rhymed. unintentional.) Poor bby Stefan Bonnie had him real fucked up womp womp**

**I didn't plan on this chapter being so long. What did you think? Until next time, readers. **


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter has sex.**

**Its the dreaded Beremy chapter. **

**And Delena. A double whammy of suckage. Hopefully it never happens again…(it won't don't worry)**

* * *

The warm water of the early morning bath did nothing to relax Bonnie or ease her mind. She absently scrubbed her now healthy body with a green washcloth, reminded of her time on the other side when she reached her ankles and legs; there weren't any scars on her skin, but she could still remember where the teethed shackles had pierced her skin and drew blood.

The horrors of her imprisonment replayed in her mind. She was stuck in her own head of no one's volition this time, watching her grams and father die over and over again. The temperature in the bath dropped; her breath huffed out of her mouth in white puffs and the water she sat in began to freeze over.

Ice crept up the tiled walls toward the ceiling, and Bonnie could not escape the dark recesses of her own mind. The lime green walls of the bathroom swirled nauseatingly. She could hear someone calling her name in the distance but it did not pull her out of her reverie.

Jeremy came barging through the open door of the bathroom. "Bonnie! Bon- oh shit. Sorry!"

Blushing, he turned his back to her and awkwardly stood in the center of the room.

"I wanted to check on you. I was worried…and you weren't answering Damon's phone or the door or when I was calling your name."

Bonnie blinked owlishly, finally coming back to reality. "How did you get inside?"

"The door was open. Sorry."

She stood up and stepped out of the bath and onto the fuzzy plum bathmat.

"Its fine, Jer. Could you just hand me a towel?"

He pulled a towel off the rack and put out his arm toward Bonnie, still not looking at her. She chuckled and took the towel from him, wrapping it around herself.

"You don't have to act like you haven't seen me naked before. But you can look now."

"It doesn't hurt to be polite," he said, turning to her. His eyes raked across her dripping body and he licked his lips.

_Wasn't he just talking about being polite?_ She ran her fingers through her hair as she walked past him to the rack and grabbed another towel to dry her wet tresses.

"How does it feel? To be back?" he asked.

"How did it feel for you?"

Jeremy thought back on both times he had been revived. "It felt like…death was a dream."

Death for her had felt anything but that; memories of being behind the veil circulated in her mind again, causing goose bumps to rise on her damp skin.

"This feels like the dream…" she whispered. Her hand stilled from ruffling dry her hair and she lost herself in the diamond pattern of the silver tile floor.

"What?"

Bonnie blinked away the darkness and shook her head. She breezed past Jeremy and out the door to her bedroom. She walked to her dresser and started ruffling through her collection of panties, but stopped suddenly when two photos caught her attention.

A black frame held a picture of her and her father from a couple years back; it was a family vacation to The Met in New York City, one of the few vacations that she went on with only her father and enjoyed.

They had gone to the museum and talked about the art for hours afterwards while they grabbed food from some fancy food truck.

The other was of her and Sheila; they weren't doing anything special, just a photo they had taken when she was spending the day at her house.

They had cooked all throughout the day; chocolate chip pancakes with bananas for breakfast, butternut squash potato salad for lunch, and chicken Alfredo with crispy baked rosemary garlic fries for dinner.

It felt like lifetimes ago when she was that happy. Bonnie stifled a groan and clenched at her head to try to forget how she had failed them; she pushed the memories to the back of her mind, somewhere where the hallucinations of their deaths couldn't taint them.

She had forgotten that Jeremy was still with her, watching from the bathroom door.

"Bonnie if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you."

"I don't need to talk about it."

"It just seems like you aren't really…doing well."

She swiveled around to face him, dropping her hand from her head. "What do you expect, Jer? It hasn't even been a whole day."

"True but…" Worries he didn't know how to articulate hung in the air between them. "Do you see anyone from the other side?"

"No. Probably because I don't want to."

She looked away from him to the cream wall behind her bed. He closed the distance between them, and raised his right hand to caress her face and make her look up at him.

"Talk to me, Bonnie. Please."

Her eyes drifted to the pictures on the dresser. She could feel herself getting lost in the smiling faces of her past. She would give anything to go back or to have them here with her, alive and well. But it was impossible.

No matter how much she wished or hoped what was happening was under her control, all that she was doing by focusing on their deaths was deviating from her reality and back to the other side where she never wanted to go again.

_I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to remember. I want to forget!_

She grabbed Jeremy's face and brought it down to hers, smashing their lips together. He was uncertain at first, but once Bonnie pressed her body against his he grabbed her by the hips and brought her closer.

She wrapped her arms his shoulders, pushing her tongue past his lips and deep into his mouth.

She moaned encouragingly when he grabbed the back of her thighs and lifted her up against him and pushed her onto the dresser. She ground her hips into the hard length pressing against his pants, making him moan into her mouth.

The pictures were flung off her dresser using her magic and clattered noisily to the floor. She inhaled sharply when they broke apart and Jeremy proceeded to kiss down her jaw and her neck, while using two of his fingers to enter her.

She pushed his jacket off his shoulders, swiveling her hips to match the movement his fingers. He hastily pulled his arms out of the jacket and yanked his shirt over his head.

His fingers joined with her to resume massaging her core while she unbuttoned his jeans and let them fall to the ground along with his boxers.

Their lips met again in a wet lock and he pulled off her towel. She pulled his hand out of her and reached for him. For a split second Jeremy's dark brown eyes seemed to flash blue and had Bonnie breaking away perplexedly.

"What's wrong? Do you want to stop?" Jeremy panted.

She searched in his eyes for something that wasn't there and figured it was her mind playing tricks on her.

"Nothing. No."

She kissed him softly and broke away from him to make sure she hadn't ruined the mood. He closed his eyes and leaned forward for another kiss, so she obliged. She pushed her breast against him when he grabbed her buttocks and lifted her slightly off the dresser.

She guided him inside of her, and they moaned again as he filled her. He started slow at first, but his thrusts quickly gained momentum. He closed his eyes, taking pleasure in the way he slicked in and out of her, and pressed his forehead into her shoulder going harder and faster.

Bonnie met every stroke with her own desperate vigor. A chill passed over her. She could feel it. She could feel Vijaya's power coursing through his body. It felt like the wind on a cold winter's day. It pulsed enticingly with each thrust and flex of Jeremy's muscles.

"Yes!" she cried out, letting her head fall back in ecstasy.

She closed her eyes tightly and moved with him in unison, savoring the heat building in her lower abdomen and the power she started to draw from.

If she had realized earlier what other witches could do for her power, she wouldn't have had to lose her dad and her grams. This was what she needed to forget the other side and avenge her family. She needed to use it. She needed to use it _now_.

She moved her left hand to cover the tattoo on his bicep where the energy was built up the most. She licked his neck all the way to the bottom of his ear and dug her fingernails into his arm.

The black veins sprouted from her fingers and up her arm to her shoulder. Black clouds formed in the sky to block out the shining sun and fat raindrops pelted against her bedroom window.

Thunder rolled over the town, covering the couple's loud exclamations and thumps from the dresser hitting the wall.

Her eyes opened and lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating her completely jet-black eyes.

* * *

Damon was sitting on the front of his bed twirling his ring around his finger when Elena walked in, still in her pajama shorts and tank top. He didn't bother to look up at her when she took a seat next to him.

"He finally fell asleep around four this morning, but I stayed with him to make sure he would be alright."

It was nine in the morning now and neither of them had gotten any sleep yet. Damon nodded and pursed his lips but still said nothing.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Damon."

"What would I feel guilty about?"

"Stefan."

"What makes you think that," he asked rhetorically, not wanting an answer but knowing he was going to get one.

"Well, we aren't together anymore."

"Elena…" He moved his hand from underneath hers and pinched the bridge of his nose. _I'm too tired for this shit._

"No, its okay. I get it. Its just…I know how you feel. I've been beating myself up over it, but now I just want to be there for him. I want to help him get better."

She put her hand on Damon's face, forcing him to look at her.

"You're a good brother, Damon. Some of it may have gotten lost over the years, but you never stopped caring about him. We all know that. He knows that."

He looked into her brown eyes, hoping that what she said was true.

Maybe it was because he was feeling a little vulnerable at the moment- or because the sun was gone taking the light in the room with it, or because it had suddenly started to rain, or because it was Elena and he had fought so hard for her even when he shouldn't have- but he found himself leaning into her.

He watched through half lidded eyes as she closed her eyes and brushed her lips across his. He cupped her chin and kissed her fully and soft, allowing his eyes to fall shut.

Elena took his bottom lip into her mouth and sucked on it before biting into it gently, producing a hum of pleasure from Damon. They fell back on the bed and Damon deepened the kiss, tangling his hand in her hair.

A booming thunderclap had Damon jumping away from her in guilt.

"We can't do this," he said, straightening his clothes.

Elena sat up in bed fixing her hair and nodding numbly.

Damon walked out of the room, seething at the fact that he had broken his promise to himself when he found out Stefan was missing: to take a break from Elena and focus on his brother instead of the girl he had taken from him, for once.

He silently entered Stefan's bedroom and sat in the chair next to the king size bed.

"Good brother? Yeah, right," Damon scoffed, running a hand over his face. The top of his eyebrows curved upward and he was hit with an irrevocable feeling of sadness as he watched his brother sleep. "I'm sorry."

* * *

The rain was still pattering against the house when Bonnie woke up in her bed. It was eight p.m. She rolled over and cuddled into the warm body next to her expecting the smell of apple wood and mint, but was bombarded with Old Spice instead.

Her stomach flopped uncomfortably at the scent and awakened her fully. She slipped out of bed, refusing to look at Jeremy, and went to have her second shower of the day.

When she got out, Jeremy was already dressing. He smiled at her.

"We should head over to the boarding house," she said as she walked to her closet. "Silas is still out there."

"Yeah, of course."

She walked into the closet and stared at the plethora of clothes. She put on a maroon pullover sweater, a high-waist black skirt, and black thigh- high socks. She threw on a fur-trimmed parka and knee-high lace up boots.

"Let's go."

To Bonnie's relief they drove separately to the boarding house. She jumped into her father's Lincoln and took a moment to run her hand over the wheel longingly.

The car had never really been her style, but she couldn't doubt that it had matched her father perfectly even though it spent most of the time in the driveway when he was away. This time he wouldn't be coming back.

She pulled into the long driveway of the Salvatore household jogged through the rain to meet Jeremy at the door. They walked into the house and caught Elena, Stefan and Damon making their way down the stairs to the living room.

"Bonnie!"

Elena bounded over and pulled Bonnie into a hug after she took off her wet jacket. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I think my body's back to normal."

"Well, you look good."

She looked at Stefan, trying to ignore the rage that flared in her at the sight of is face. "I'm sorry about last night, Stefan. You've arguably had a worst summer than me, and I probably only made it worse."

He hunched over against the end of the banister, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I understand, Bonnie. You don't have to apologize."

"Someone around here has to."

An awkward silence filled the room, but Bonnie didn't stick around to see how someone would break it. She glided past everyone toward the living room, missing the way Damon's eyes followed her.

She grazed all the objects she passed with her fingertips: the walls, tables and the decorative bowls placed on top f them, and paintings from decades past. She hopped off the single step into the living room and went to one of the high bookshelves.

She pulled _Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales _off the shelf and flipped the pages close to her face to feel the breeze it created and breathe in the soothing wood-and-almond smell of the paper.

"That's one of my favorite books."

Damon stepped forward into Bonnie's line of vision, and leaned his left shoulder against the bookshelf, and faced her with his arms crossed. She glanced up at him and back at the book.

"'And now was acknowledge the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.'"

Her eyes glazed over and the black script of the book blurred. Damon's eyes narrowed when he noticed her pupils begin to quiver, unsure if he was seeing things. But it stopped as soon as it had begun.

"Heh, I should have known. It totally suits you."

"Thank you," he said smirking, but sobered and studied her closely. "Any post-death-resurrection effects?"

She snapped the book closed and slid it back into its spot, her hand lingering on the literature. "Not really. Just a little disoriented," she admitted to him, mostly so she wouldn't arouse suspicion at the lack of problems.

Jeremy had seen ghosts at his revival, and Alaric's had turned him insane. She'd only become a little overexcited when she encountered other witches' power…it wasn't really anything worth worrying about.

She began to step away.

Damon's right hand shot out and gently grabbed her by her upper arm, slowing her movement away from him. She looked back at him without stopping; their eyes locked, his concerned, but hers twinkled with delight.

He kept her arm in his hand, as she grew more distant, until all that was left was her own hand; both of their fingers curled as if they would hold hands, but they easily slid away from each other with Bonnie's next step.

Damon witnessed a hint of a smile as she turned away from him. He brought his hand- that was now significantly warmer than the rest of his body- to his mouth and absently rubbed his lips with the fingers that had held hers.

He watched her continue to physically explore the objects in the room. He heard the front door open- cutting short Elena's 20 questions to Jeremy- and hurried steps.

"Oh my God, Bonnie!"

Matt ran over to Bonnie and enveloped her in a bear hug. For a moment she stood still, but she sunk into him and wrapped her arms around his back.

For the first time since she got back, Bonnie felt like herself before she died. He pulled away to look at her face, but still held onto her.

"Are you alright? When they told me I just…I couldn't believe it." He caressed her face and she leaned into his hand. "Three months…God, Bonnie. You're okay?"

She laughed lightly and covered his hand with hers. "I'm fine, Matt. Really. I'm okay now."

He crushed her with another hug. "I'm sorry about your dad," he whispered.

She squeezed him a little tighter, thankful for his condolences; he was the first one to apologize about his death besides Sophia. The barely controllable desire to seek out Silas and pull him inside out calmed a bit.

"Thank you."

Caroline, Elena, Jeremy, and Stefan entered the room soon after Matt and Bonnie's reunion. The blonde hopped over and joined the hug.

"Can we speed up this happy reunion so we can actually get something done?" Damon drawled, suddenly in a bad mood.

The three ignored Damon's grumpiness but took a seat on the couch.

Jeremy took the remaining spot on the couch by Matt, Stefan and Elena sat on the armchairs, and Damon leaned against Stefan's chair. He felt a vein in his forehead tick at the sight of Bonnie and Matt's entwined hands.

"Silas is still alive and well out there and, obviously, that's a problem. We need a way to fix that," Damon started.

"How do we know he isn't going around changing his face again?" Elena asked.

"Because he had the face first. He's petty like that, even though it's nothing to brag about. Besides, I'm sure he's having fun playing Stefan to anyone who doesn't know who he really is."

"He's an immortal witch who had to be locked away in rock on some faraway island. How the hell are we supposed to kill him?"

"I don't think he'll be open enough to use the same spell twice," Bonnie cut in. "But that doesn't mean there isn't something else we can use against him, right?" Caroline offered.

"The grimoires are our best bet right now," Bonnie said. "I'll look through them again."

"Okay, you do that. In the meantime, everyone be on the lookout for Silas. He'll have a lot more pep in his step than my dear PTSD brother, here. But we all know he didn't have much to begin with."

Damon patted Stefan on the shoulder in mock sympathy, earning him the usual eye-rolls from most of the group, but an uncharacteristic giggle from Bonnie. She cleared her throat awkwardly at everyone's stares.

"What do we do if he confronts us?" she asked to change the unspoken subject of her laughing at Damon's joke. It wasn't even a real question she wanted to ask.

If she encountered Silas, she would make his brain explode. Literally. The force would be so great that his eyeballs would skyrocket right out of their sockets with the velocity of a bullet being shot from a gun.

She only hoped some poor bastard wouldn't be around to catch them unwittingly. She wasn't really sure how that would work for his immortality, but it'd definitely take a while to heal.

"Just play it cool. And if he's out for blood, you run."

* * *

**ehhh don't hate me (I didn't submit this chapter for the longest out of fear). So clearly things have calmed down since the great escape. I have a lot of the plot written out but I don't know how long its going to take to complete. **

**I like to think that Bonnie did do it with Jeremy after she brought him back from the dead; like you legit disobeyed a bunch of dead witches and brought him back from the dead and you're not gonna fuck him? Idk I think she did it and that's a big reason why she was sooo upset with him when he was a little fuckdouche and kissed Anna, and why she hasn't gotten over him. That's just my opinion though.**

**Thank you for continuing to read, you're all so beautiful. I promise there will be real Bamon soon!**

**(I heard there was actually Bonnie sex in the last episode? Why am I on the same timetable as JP *gag*)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Dunno what to say except thank you for all the reviews and compliments.**

* * *

Bonnie slammed the last grimoire shut; she had taken all of the old spell books from the Salvatore house and brought them back with her to her own home.

It had only taken her a day to finish reading all of them and, to her extreme disappointment, they held nothing about a way to kill Silas. The twitch in her eye came back.

The fireplace crackled in front of her; the rain had stopped but the days continued to grow colder.

She sat on the floor of her living room wearing some fluffy red socks and her oversized Green Day shirt. It used to be Rudy's, but he had never wore it; she had bought it for him because it was the first concert he had let her attend back in middle school.

Listening to their music was as rebellious as a small town- bookworm- girl like her could get.

The doorbell rang and Bonnie didn't bother getting up. Instead she used her magic to survey who was outside by the feel of their energy and opened the door when she found it was Jeremy.

"I'm in the living room," she called out to him. He walked into the room a moment later, dressed for work at The Grille.

"Finished with the grimoires already?" he asked.

"Yeah. They didn't have anything in them."

"Damn…we can find another way."

She waved her hand dismissively and let Jeremy hug her when she stood up, but pulled away when he bent down to kiss her on the lips.

"Jeremy…" she started. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, folded her arms across her chest, and looked up at him.

"About yesterday. I was in…a really strange place and I couldn't get out of it. And that's…why I fucked you."

Jeremy blinked, taken aback by her bluntness.

"You're really important to me. You're my best friend. But I think that's all we should stay. I'm sorry if I made you think that I wanted to be…with you. In a relationship."

His face reddened a bit, but he took the revelation in stride for the most part. "No, no its fine. I understand. You're important to me too." He couldn't even look her in the eyes anymore.

"Thank you for being there for me. Really. I'm really sorry. Really," she said awkwardly.

He nodded slowly. "I got to get to work now."

She grabbed his arm before he could leave. "Do you know if Damon is home?"

Whatever Jeremy was hoping or expecting, he didn't get. His shoulders slumped at her question. "He was there when I left. I'll see you later, Bonnie."

She dropped his arm and walked him to the door, locking it after him. Then she turned around and bounded up the stairs to change.

* * *

Bonnie walked into the boarding house and shrugged off her jacket revealing her baggy gray knit sweater and jeans, before sauntering into the living room.

Damon was sitting in the middle of the couch, nursing a glass of bourbon. She dropped down onto the couch next to him, sitting unusually close.

Damon felt the warmth from her body spread into his left shoulder, way warmer than the fire that was dancing in the fireplace in front of them.

"What are you brooding about?"

Damon took a sip of his drink begrudgingly.

_My brother is suffering from terrible post-traumatic stress disorder while his doppleganger runs loose somewhere, probably planning dastardly deeds; I broke up with my girlfriend who I chased for…God, how long was it? _

_And now you're here rubbing shoulders with me, which is extremely disconcerting. _

Not that he minded. It was just…bizarre. She usually kept away whenever she could; he wasn't bitter about the treatment because, honestly, he deserved it.

But before he couldn't help wishing in the back of his mind that she would come a little closer. She had stopped moving away when he invaded her personal space before she died, though.

Maybe resurrecting her had solidified a friendship status?

He slouched down into the couch and leaned against her a bit more. She smelled like cinnamon and vanilla.

"Nothing," he finally answered.

"I bet it's about Elena or something; it's always about Elena." _Elena, Elena, Elena. God, I'm tired of her problems being everyone's problems like we don't have our own._ "But then again you don't need anything to brood about."

Damon's face scrunched up in irritation. "What are you even doing here?"

She sighed and grabbed his glass from him and swallowed the rest of his drink.

He stared at her- his hand still in the air holding the empty space that his glass once occupied- mouth slightly agape. His blue eyes popped in disbelief.

"Yes, _Bonnie_, take my drink right out of my hand and finish it for me. Please, _I insist_."

His obvious displeasure didn't bother Bonnie at all. She put the empty glass in his hand and wiped her mouth. "I didn't find anything in the grimoires."

Damon rolled his eyes and reached for the bottle of bourbon on the coffee table. He filled the glass halfway and swallowed it, then filled it again and passed it to Bonnie.

She threw it back and placed it in his hands again. He poured again- lips turned down in an impressed frown- and leaned back against the sofa before thinking twice and bringing the bottle with him. Just in case.

"Can't say I'm surprised."

Bonnie twisted on the couch to face Damon, pulling her right knee up and throwing her right arm on the back of the couch behind Damon.

"What do we do now?"

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose; it was an annoying habit now.

The stress was really getting to him. He needed a vacation, but with their luck he would come back and everyone would be slaughtered.

"Maybe…maybe we could find something in Shane's office?" Bonnie suggested.

_That lying bastard_, they both thought, unaware that they were on the same wavelength.

_I knew he wasn't trustworthy_, Damon thought.

_Should have believed Damon when he said he wasn't trustworthy_, Bonnie thought. He'd gotten Jeremy killed, almost got her killed that day, and in the end was the reason why she ended up losing her mind and eventually her life.

No, it wasn't just Shane's fault; it was Katherine who had served Jeremy to Silas on a silver platter.

_She'll get what she deserves_, Bonnie vowed. But right now, it was Silas's blood she needed.

"Its worth a shot, right?"

It was a lead. It was the only lead they had to find the key to Silas's demise. It was a _good_ lead.

He looked into Bonnie's green eyes as she waited expectantly for his answer. Damon sipped his drink to completion and added more to the glass. He held it out to Bonnie.

"I'm down for a road trip," he said to her.

Bonnie took the glass from his hand, smiling, and drank it up.

_I guess I'll get that vacation after all_, he mused as he watched her finish the alcohol.

* * *

Bonnie was tipsy, but only a little bit. Just enough to dull the itch in the back of her brain because she didn't know how to kill Silas yet.

She should have had breakfast before going to see Damon that morning. She followed him upstairs to Stefan's room where Elena and Stefan were holed up; he was bringing them a couple of blood bags and the remaining bottle of bourbon.

_That's nice_, she thought as she trailed after him.

Her eyes traveled from the black boots that he wore, up the back of his dark jeans resting perfectly on his backside, and still further up to admire his wide shoulders through his black, elbow length cotton shirt.

She closed the distance between them as they traveled through the hallway.

"Finally stepping up to be the good big brother?" she asked, slapping her left hand down on his right shoulder; her pinky finger stretched a bit far unnaturally so it was touching bare skin.

His energy felt different than Jeremy's. Jeremy's felt like life and hope and it felt like the wind; she could feel Vijaya's aspiration for the mission to be completed through it.

But Damon's energy felt like death, like the first time she had touched Stefan and every other vampire she had come across. There was no hope in it, just a blood lust. It felt like the night during a new moon.

Esther clearly had another reason for creating the Originals other than protection against werewolves.

Still though, she knew every vampire felt a little different underneath all of that. She couldn't quite tell what Damon was yet.

He shook off her hand and glared at her. "What the hell is wrong with you today?"

She put up her hands in surrender. "Wow, so sensitive. It was just an observation."

He grunted at her. Maybe he should think twice about this trip. They reached Stefan's room and he opened the door and walked nimbly inside.

"Brought some blood for you guys," he announced.

Bonnie entered with a little more caution since she had never been in there before. Stefan was reading in bed and Elena was reading in the chair next to him. They looked up when the two came in.

The room was kind of what Bonnie expected: no bright colors and Stefan's usual haunted, tragic demeanor hung all around. She didn't spend any time exploring but instead walked up to the three.

Elena immediately started sucking at the bag Damon put into her hand after giving Bonnie a coy smile. Stefan drank more gingerly.

"How are you feeling, Stefan?" she asked him.

"Better, thanks. Were you able to find anything in the grimoires to stop Silas?"

"Unfortunately, no. Damon and I are actually going back to Whitmore College to see if there's anything Shane left behind in his office about Silas."

Stefan nodded and continued to drink his blood bag.

"When are you guys leaving? Maybe I can call Caroline to hang out with Stefan and come with you guys," Elena said.

Bonnie rolled her eyes in her head. "No thanks," Bonnie replied. "It'll be inconvenient for Care."

Elena and Damon exchanged looks, but he shrugged and smirked. Bonnie walked up to Stefan and lightly placed her hand on his forearm. For a second she could feel the water enclosed around Stefan as he thrashed around helplessly in the safe. She shuddered.

"Holy shit," she mumbled. Stefan looked at her questioningly and she squeezed his arm. "What a trooper," she said, shaking her head and patting his arm.

His brow furrowed along with Elena and Damon's.

She turned to Damon. "Ready?"

* * *

"What's with the sudden personality change?" Damon asked.

They were in Damon's car driving off in search of answers. Bonnie fiddled with the radio and Damon slapped her hand away. The Sex Pistols stayed on.

"It's the bourbon," she lied. It was something else entirely, and she liked it.

She didn't feel as burdened as she used to. The pressure of being a Bennett witch with flaky powers, especially when her friends needed it most, was gone.

She didn't care about trying to survive anymore. She cared about power. She cared about revenge.

"What's up with yours?"

Damon's jaw muscles clenched angrily. Stony silence filled the car.

Bonnie flipped her hair back and looked out the window, watching the scenery outside fly by.

She peered into the sky and saw a big fluffy cloud hovering alone in the distance. She focused on it and after a few seconds it turned into a floating body of water.

She covered her mouth and gasped, losing concentration and causing the water to fall somewhere on the land below it.

"What?"

"…Nothing."

He didn't question her any further and left Bonnie to obsess about her powers. She had never been able to use them like that before.

She'd caused that storm that one morning, she knew, but she thought it was because of the hunter's mark. She didn't know why she didn't consider what the witches' power from the other side would do to her own when she made it back.

She contemplated the extent of her witchcraft.

_I should practice with it. I never did with the amount of the 1,000 dead witches unless it had to do with Klaus…_

"Weren't you the one who said I could stand to grow a conscience?" Damon bit out, interrupting her thoughts.

"Uh, yes? Not in those exact words."

"Well, I guess I did."

What was he even talking about? "Are you talking about taking care of Stefan right now?"

"What the hell else would I be talking about?" he yelled.

"I don't know! I thought that conversation ended like five minutes ago!" she yelled back at him.

She folded her arms and they lapsed into silence once again.

"What's your endgame?"

"Excuse me?" Damon snapped.

"What do you expect to get out of this? You never do anything without a reason."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence, _Judgey_. I'm doing it because he's my _brother_. And I don't always have some evil agenda. I brought you back no questions asked, didn't I?"

She worried her lip. "Why did you?" she asked him.

His hand flexed around the gearshift as she waited for his answer. He glanced at her and sighed.

"Because you deserved more than what you got," he said simply.

She reverted back to her old self from before her resurrection in that moment. She played with her hands sheepishly before sucking in a breath of air and placing one of them on Damon's. He looked down at the appendage and then back up at her.

"Thank you. Again. I wouldn't be here- in the flesh -if it weren't for you."

He shrugged nonchalantly, feeling her heat spread throughout his hand and chest.

"So…friends?" she offered.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He never expected her to ever use that term to describe them, but Bonnie did give credit where credit was due. Had he earned it? He felt a feeling of accomplishment but played it cool.

"Eh…"

"Come on," she teased, taking her hand off of his to poke his arm.

"You could use a friend. You don't have any. Its why you have all these wrinkles, old man." She tapped his cheek with her index finger.

"_Old man_?" He swatted her away. "_Please_. My face is flawless."

"Is that a yes?"

He took his eyes off the road again to peek at her face. Like he would even be able to say no to that smile.

"Whatever."

She laughed and sat back in her seat, watching as a poorly concealed grin spread across Damon's face.

They arrived at the school and went straight to Shane's old office.

Boxes lay empty around the room because no one had been hired to pack his things or replace him. Damon held the door open for Bonnie and locked it behind them.

"Where do we start?" he asked and strolled up to stand close behind her.

"Just a second."

She closed her eyes and focused. About 10 books clattered to the floor from the shelves. She opened her palm and raised it, along with the books. They came floating toward her and Damon, and they stacked neatly in front of them.

"I bet you'll love that when your TV remote is sitting a few feet away from you," Damon joked, bumping her shoulder with his arm. She pushed him away playfully and grabbed one of the books.

"So let's take them back home?"

Damon shrugged and ambled around the room to the desk and started flicking the dead professor's belongings off of it.

"Are you sure that's all of them that have to do with Silas?"

"He's just one witch. This is all of them. I think his wife found these too, actually."

Damon hummed disdainfully. "Maybe Sophia knows something."

"No," Bonnie said loudly. Damon stopped scrolling Shane's archives to look at Bonnie with a quirked eyebrow.

"She's afraid of Silas. She didn't want to be involved in this. Let's leave it that way."

He formed a wide 'oh' with his mouth. So that's why she ran out as soon as Bonnie's soul entered her body. It brought back the reminder Sophia had given Bonnie.

"Is that what she told you in the car…to leave?"

"Yes. But you know me and my sense of duty to my friends."

"That damn martyr complex," he said, smirking ruefully. "Hope it doesn't get you killed…again."

* * *

**what. k bye love you**

**p.s. bonnie totally didn't have a real rebellious phase. (damon should teach her about punk rock)**

**p.p.s damon totally envied sid and nancy because he's seriously fucked up**


	14. Chapter 14

**Omg this chapter is so long because I've been M.I.A taking exams and then finals. So here you go. It's a present.**

* * *

"So what's it say?" Damon asked.

They were on their way back from Whitmore College to Mystic Falls. Bonnie had suggested visiting Caroline, more so out of duty, but to her relief, Damon ha denied her request. Now the blame wouldn't be on her when Caroline found out about the impromptu trip.

She was leaning against the car door with one leg up, reading one of Shane's books.

"Nothing much. It's just talking about the history of Silas, Qetsiyah, and the other woman Amara so far. It hasn't even had specific spells spoken about yet."

"Well Shane wasn't exactly an expert."

"His wife was the witch so…"

They lapsed into silence as her eyes quickly scanned the books of the page. Every 3 seconds she was flipping the page to the book, trying to absorb any information that could be a clue to defeat the bastard Silas.

"Who's this Amara chick again?"

"She was Qetsiyah's hand maid. She betrayed her by being involved with Silas, and she broke them apart."

"Right…" Damon was reminded of how he had purposely, and remorselessly, taken Elena from Stefan.

As if she could read his mind, Bonnie continued to speed read and said, "Remind you of anyone?"

Damon ignored her jab even though it made a vein in his forehead pulse in displeasure and continued to drive. They still had a while to drive before they got back to Mystic Falls. It wasn't like he was with Elena right now anyways; both were pretty much entirely focused on Stefan. And he'd be lying if he said it didn't bother him that Elena was as willing to forego their relationship in lieu of Stefan.

But, for once, he kept his mouth shut and focused on the problem at hand. Or problems. Stefan needed to get better, and Silas needed to get dead. But he could still spare some thoughts for other people's relationships.

"What about you?" he asked Bonnie, downplaying his interest to seem as if he was only countering her argument about his love life to battle her own.

Bonnie didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"You and Little Gilbert. Still madly in love? Willing to sacrifice your life for him again knowing I won't be there to help you the next time?"

Bonnie stared hard at the book in her hand until she remembered what her powers could to an object that she focused on; it probably would have burst into flames if she didn't manage to avert her gaze.

She already knew the answer to the questions Damon asked to deflect her own. She would never feel the same about Jeremy again. And would she sacrifice herself for him? Hell, no. She had learned her lesson. But still…if she had to go back and experience killing all those witches again just for the sake of it she'd just might.

"My priorities have changed," she answered, because it was true. She wouldn't risk her own life for anyone else's anymore, but…to feel that again? The multitude of powers that invaded, overcame, and intermingled with hers? It was nothing like she was used to.

She thought she had felt it once…when she used Jeremy's body to desiccate Klaus. But somehow this time was different. The desire she had to take more was consuming. The revenge she wanted and felt capable of taking was unprecedented.

She turned to Damon and said, "I know I'm capable of more than Jeremy now."

She didn't know how he'd take her comment, and he didn't know he should take it. So he merely replied, "Never sacrifice your own well-being for someone else is my motto."

They stared into each other's eyes, measuring up what they each had to say, before Damon turned to the road again and Bonnie to her book.

She finished the book and threw it to the back seat expressionlessly. Was that all it had to offer? Background information she already knew about? No spells whatsoever? She could feel agitation building up in her but she tried to quell it.

She couldn't get the name Amara out of her head. Maybe it was because she was the other woman, like Anna. Maybe because both of their names started with A. Maybe because they both destroyed the relationships of Bonnie and her long lost ancestor.

"How about we just keep relationship talk out of this friendship?" Bonnie offered. She leaned her arm against the passenger door and her head against her hand and looked at Damon.

"I would have suggested going back to enemies otherwise," he said, relishing in the fact that Bonnie wouldn't try to analyze the relationship between him and Elena any further.

Bonnie thought to herself for a while and asked, "What was it like? Dying for you?"

Damon would have only offered a curt answer to the question if it weren't Bonnie who had just come back from the dead, but instead took a moment to think about the question. "For the first time, or for the times afterwards?"

"I don't know…both I guess."

Damon thought some more. "For the first time it was what I would assume it was like dying for regular people: dramatic, slow, and agonizing. But once I became a vampire, I never took it seriously; I ignored the shallow breaths, and the slowing heartbeat, and the strength decreasing from my body. Anyone who knew how to dispose of a vampire was going to be killed by me first. But for a mortal like you…you'll be snuffed out before you even realize someone is trying to kill you."

Bonnie considered that statement. "So you think immortals will always have the upper hand?"

"Maybe. If you don't have other immortals on your side. We're the golden ticket."

She rolled her eyes but half-believed what he said. Immortals always seemed to survive while people like her suffered the consequences.

Maybe she'd find a way out of it.

* * *

She read the books Shane had on Silas. Then read them again. Then read them again. And she still couldn't find any spell that would help her incapacitate, or better yet, kill him.

The longer she spent trying to find a way to end him, the more her blood thirst grew. The longer she found herself digging for a way to kill Silas to no avail, the longer she felt her resurrection meant nothing.

One night she dreamt something terrible; she had dreamt Elena drained her grandmother and father of every drop of blood that they had in their body. Bonnie had watched helplessly as her family's skin grew taut around their skeletons as they were killed.

Their once beautiful brown skin became decellulized and white; the hair from her grandmother's head became brittle and fell away, and she watched as their eyes lost any life they once held in them and their body shriveled up into dry, shriveled corpses.

She startled awake, expecting to be a prisoner beyond the veil once again. But she had escaped her reality where she was only a soul to be tortured by the dead witches. She lay in her bed breathing heavily, staring at the ceiling she had dearly missed while she was deceased.

The glow in the dark stars that still held a semblance of the good they had bestowed upon Bonnie when she was still young and afraid of the dark watched her as she tried to gain her bearings. Bonnie turned to her left to look at her alarm clock; it was barely six in the morning.

She slipped out of bed and went to the shower, climbing in before the water had even begun to warm. All she could think about was the dream as she stood underneath the showerhead that sprayed freezing water onto her, not that she really noticed.

She tried the push the image of Elena draining their blood- like she had tried to do to her- away from her mind's eye as far as possible, but that still left the lifeless corpses of her departed family with her.

The water heated to the temperature of Bonnie's body, but it did nothing to ease her mind. She only spent ten minutes in the shower, absently scrubbing her skin, before she got out.

She stood on her bath mat, staring blankly at her reflection in the mirror, unsure of whom she was seeing; it was still clearly her, but she had faint bags under her eyes that lacked vigor. She swiped her towel from the rod and dried herself.

She needed to get out of the house.

She quickly dressed herself into jeans, a baggy peach sweater, and her black parka jacket. She pulled on some boots, bounded down the stairs, and exited her house.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, highlighting the sky in pastel blues, oranges, purples, and yellows. She got into her father's abandoned car and headed to the woods.

She made her way deep into the woods. Besides the tall trees' browning leaves rustling in the crisp breeze and soft animal sounds, the woods were silent. The quiet had been unnerving Bonnie as of late, but here in the comfort of nature she could finally breathe easy.

She settled on the forest floor and started breathing deeply. She let everything that was troubling flow to the surface: her father's death, her time spent on the other side, and a multitude of confusing emotions for the people still in her life.

But the problem that she struggled with the most was that the key to Silas's demise kept eluding her. He was the cause of it all. He was the reason she was floundering like a fish out of water, trying to catch some semblance of normalcy in her chaotic life.

Somewhere deep inside of her, something was wrong. She couldn't sleep well, she was seeing things, she couldn't eat. She wasn't her anymore. All she could hold onto was her magic.

Sophia had said that witches could draw power from anything. She placed her hands on the floor, closed her eyes, and examined her surroundings with her magic and felt a current of energies all around her; it was bundled in the roots buried in the dirt. It was in the tufts of grass all around her. It was being pumped throughout the woodland creatures' bodies.

And it was ripe for the taking.

She started to call to it. It drew into her body and started to warm it exponentially. She sighed, savoring the way all the different energies entered her and joined with her own. It was like when she had consumed the witches' to save her own life, but it was far more diluted.

She wanted more of it. She wanted it all.

Her brow scrunched together as she concentrated on forcibly pulling the energy out of their biological containers. The black veins branched out underneath her clothes, pulsing in hunger.

High gusts of hot wind picked up around Bonnie, spreading out 100 feet wide all around her, trapping anything and everything in the zone.

The birds stopped chirping languidly and trilled in distress. They took flight from the hidden nests in the trees, but Bonnie's reach was too long and powerful. She took their life force away from them, and they dropped dead to the floor.

Avian carcasses rained down from the sky, squirrels plummeted from boughs, and the trees that had been standing for centuries withered into gray husks. The leaves lost all color they once contained and soundlessly dropped to the ground, shattering to dust. The grass and flowers wilted, limp and bleached.

Bonnie moaned out of the destructive trance and the wind dispersed across the land. Her body quivered from the power she had leeched. Her mouth hung slightly agape as she opened her eyes. The black cleared to reveal the green.

She paid no attention to the remains of the animals around her. Her eyes stayed trained on the sky above her. Cogs in her mind whirred. She could no longer deny her lust for power.

Her magic needed to be fed, and she would no longer deny it what it so desperately craved. Her magic was all she had left; what it desired was what she desired. She had spent too much time at odds with it, but now things would change.

If Expression had taught her anything, it was that when she listened to her magic she was capable of so much more. And if she continued to collect more to add to her own, she would be strong enough to kill Silas and anyone who didn't have her best interests in mind. She hopped up from the floor- missing the singe marks she had left behind- and ran to her car.

She skidded before the Salvatore mansion and busted out of her car with her black hobo bag. She jogged up to the door and pounded on the door three times, shifting from foot to foot in impatience.

Damon answered the door. He was wearing the usual black clothes; he couldn't stop dressing for a bad boy persona he seemed to have retired in lieu of recent events.

"Do you know what time it is," he said and leaned against the door as he widened it more for her to come in.

She bounced inside and grabbed Damon's arm, pulling him to the living room; the usual heat flooded Damon from the contact. "Its 7:30 a.m. I have an idea to kill Silas."

"Oh yeah? Hope it sticks this time."

Bonnie ignored his comment and dropped his arm to kneel at the coffee table while Damon took a seat on the couch behind her. She reached into her bag and pulled out a map of the United States, then spread it on the table.

"Since none of the grimoires in our possession have anything about a way to defeat an immortal witch, we just have to find other grimoires. And the only way to find grimoires is to find witches."

"I'm so glad you didn't inherit that annoying habit of riddle-speak from your ancestors," Damon said.

"I know the IQ level I'm dealing with."

"Ha ha," he responded dryly. "And how are we going to find these witches?"

"A locator spell with a twist. Our powers may feel different, but essentially it's of the same essence. If you have a witch," she explained, reaching into her bag again and bringing out a knife.

She cut into her palm, unflinchingly, and let the blood from the cut drop onto the map. "You can find a witch."

She murmured the spell and the two watched as blood drops spread across the map, all over the country. There were at least six for every state.

"All we have to do is pick one and go pay them a visit," Bonnie said. Her eyes held the excitement that she concealed from Damon.

"We?" Damon asked, arms folded and eyebrow quirked.

"What? You don't want to come?"

"I figured you'd want to take Elena or Caroline. Put up a fight to get me not to come, like when you went to see your mother for the first time."

"That was different. Besides, I might need a body shield just in case something goes wrong."

"Elena could be a body shield. Or better yet Caroline," Damon said.

"I like Caroline and Elena." But did she? She thought back to the nightmare that she pulled herself out of this morning. Right now she barely wanted to look at her, let alone go hunting for witches with her.

"Well when you put it like that it makes me want to go less and less," he said.

"You want me to beg?"

Damon smirked. "You _are _already on your knees…"

Bonnie reconsidered taking Damon along. She didn't need him, but she would like him to be there. She twisted her body around to face Damon, who was waiting expectantly. She looked up at him through her thick, dark eyelashes.

"Please?"

He pretended to think about her request, enjoying the game they were playing. He liked the new Bonnie; the old one was too stiff and serious. She still held all the qualities he revered in her, but now she was fun. He couldn't help his growing fondness of her.

The smirk never came off his face. "So where we going?"

Bonnie mirrored his smirk and went back to the map. She didn't want to go too far, but she couldn't stay too close either. She wanted to find a witch somewhere news would be less likely to reach them once they got back to Mystic Falls. "Hartford, Connecticut."

* * *

Bonnie had insisted that they leave right away. It wasn't like they were doing anything anyways. Elena and Stefan had sided with her, so Bonnie and Damon packed into his car with a couple of bags and started their eight-hour drive.

They discussed ordinary things for once: his favorite book was _Call of the Wild_ by Jack London, hers was a tie between _A Thousand Splendid Suns _by Khalid Hosseini and _The Alchemist_ by Paolo Coelho.

They both appreciated classical music pioneers Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Damon had lived through and enjoyed the punk rock age, his favorite was classical rock, and he accompanied Jimi Hendrix on tour once and became good friends with him; Bonnie preferred pop and alternative rock.

Comfortable silences ensued when they stopped talking to appreciate the other's tastes.

They got to the Hampton Inn- where they had reserved a room with two queen beds- around 7 p.m. They decided to rest for the night and visit the witch the next day.

They stopped at a somewhat busy pizza restaurant; their waitress was a thin, tan brunette wearing a low cut v-neck T-shirt, showing off her pushed up boobs. Her lips were puffy and pink.

"My name's Chelsea and I'll be serving you tonight. What can I get you guys?" she asked, paying no attention to Bonnie.

Damon ordered a beer and a side of fries and made eyes with Chelsea, while Bonnie got iced tea, white tomato pesto pizza, and jalapeno poppers.

"You really have a thing for brunettes, don't you?"

Damon chuckled. "I thought relationships were off the table for topics of discussion."

The waitress came back with their drinks and proceeded to flirt with Damon until she went to the back to get their food. Bonnie sipped her drink as she watched their interaction; it was so easy for Damon, even without having to use compulsion.

He was too handsome for his own good, or anyone else's. She wondered how much of his ego was comprised on his ability to woo women.

"Really?" she asked incredulously when Chelsea left again. "I know you're not with Elena right now but if you try to bring her back to the room I _will_ make you finish prematurely."

Damon opened his mouth to address her threat, but remembered the beginning of the statement. "She told you?"

"No, Caroline did."

Did that mean it wasn't important to Elena? Was she too concerned with Stefan that Damon was a non-factor? Did she expect to start again with him, once Stefan was better? Did Damon expect that they would get back together?

Chelsea came back with the food and set it before them; Bonnie began to eat immediately, but Damon was staring into space sipping his beer.

"If you need anything else," Chelsea said, squishing her boobs together as she leaned down, "I'll be happy to help."

But Damon was no longer in the mood to entertain brunettes with doe eyes. He didn't even bother to look at her when he said, "Not likely." He took another sip of his beer.

Chelsea stood there awkwardly, confused at the sudden cold shoulder. She looked at Bonnie and the witch shrugged. Dejected, she wandered away to finally serve her other tables.

Damon's mood didn't change even after they left the restaurant. They got back to their room and Bonnie left Damon checking his cell phone to have a shower.

She sat on the floor of the shower letting the hot water rain down on her. She tried to imagine the unannounced meeting tomorrow.

_Will it be a young witch, or an old witch?_ She thought to herself. _There could be more than one, right…if she lives with other witches. Will they be hostile? I hope there aren't any kids._

She lifted her face toward the water. _I hope they don't do anything stupid and make Damon kill them._

Not before she could get what she wanted from them.

She finished and dressed in her Green Day shirt. She walked out of the bathroom, combing her wet hair, and saw that her bed was a mess. Damon lay on the one closest to the door, channel surfing and texting.

"What the hell, Damon?" she asked gesturing toward the bed.

"I didn't know which bed I wanted to sleep on," he said as if he did nothing wrong.

She sighed and climbed onto the bed, still drying and combing her hair while watching what Damon had stopped on: Law and Order. Damon spared a glance at her, then looked back at his phone, then looked back at Bonnie.

She sat with her legs bent on the bed so the oversized shirt- that only went mid-thigh when she was standing- stopped right below her butt. Her legs were toned and caramel.

In what Damon would assume was a lapse of judgment, she wasn't wearing a bra; he could see her nipples poking through the shirt. And the icing on the cake?

She had bundled all her hair to the side away from him, so Damon had a clear view of her neck; a droplet of water rolled down into the collar of her shirt, accentuating the pulse from the carotid artery.

_What in God's name has made her so comfortable around me? And how can I get it to stop? _He squinted at the TV screen. _Maybe it shouldn't stop._ He unconsciously licked his lips.

"Are you hungry?" Bonnie asked him, making him snap out of his thoughts.

"What?" he said, suddenly defensive.

"Your eyes are doing the thing." She finished combing her hair and rustled it dry with the towel. It made her chest jiggle and bounce.

Damon held his breath and went to the fridge where he had put his blood bags after storing them in a medical cooler during the drive there. He took three bags out and walked across the room to the bathroom.

Bonnie watched him until he closed the door behind him. The shower turned on. Her hair finished drying before Damon finished his shower, so she tucked herself into bed, hoping she would have a restful night's sleep.

She didn't know if Damon would notice she was having nightmares and didn't want him to ask about them. But being wrapped in the scent of apple wood lulled her to sleep and kept her there until noon the next day.

* * *

They parked on the side of the road across from the house; it was dirty white and two stories with an attic. Large Willow trees sat in the yard, and vervain grew along the porch stairs.

Bonnie and Damon exchanged glances but walked up to the door. Bowls rested on the wood of the porch, spilling over with acorns. Damon pressed the doorbell.

A head of wild red hair appeared at the window to the left before disappearing once again. Damon heard quick footsteps heading toward the door and four heavy clicks of locks opening. The door split open and the pair could see a gray eye surrounded by pale flesh.

The eye continued to watch them, but they weren't dead or dying. Bonnie held her hand out for the witch to shake.

"Hi, my name is Bonnie Bennett and this is my friend Damon. Its nice to meet you."

The door opened enough for them to see her whole face. She had a long chin, freckles were sprinkled across her long, pointed nose, and she had a thin mouth set in a deep frown. Her face was heavily wrinkled. Bonnie smiled softly and stretched her hand out farther.

A small, frail hand came out of the door and lightly grasped Bonnie's. Her magic felt as if sand was falling across Bonnie's hands. The woman's lips pulled back and she hissed as she snatched her hand away, but not before Bonnie could read her.

She was only in her 70's, and yet she looked so old. She was all alone…no family or friends. And she had so much fear and sadness in her.

"If you don't want to die you'll get off of my porch right now," a voice rasped.

Damon stepped closer to Bonnie. Bonnie threw her hands up. "Raven, wait! We're not here to hurt you! I'm a witch!"

"I know what you are. I know he's a vampire. Leave now."

"If you could just give us a minute to-" Bonnie gasped, dropping to her knees and felt her heart being squeezed.

Damon clenched his chest, feeling the same attack. "Bitch…you-"

Raven stared wide-eyed at Bonnie in confusion. "I don't want anything to do with you! Leave! Now!" The door slammed shut and the locks went back into place.

The hold on their hearts was released and Damon had to support himself on the wall. "If you can lure her outside I can snap her neck."

Bonnie rubbed the spot where her heart pumped underneath; the cotton of her black pullover did nothing to ease the tenderness.

"She hasn't left that house for fifty years…I don't think it'd be easy to do." She added quickly, "Besides we can't kill her."

She picked herself up off the ground and climbed down the stairs back towards the car. She dusted dirt off of the knees of her jeans. It had gone well, besides her attacking them.

That might be a problem when she told Damon she was going to meet with her alone. They shouldn't have the conversation in a public place. "We should go back to the inn."

Damon opened the door to their room and let Bonnie inside before walking in himself. Neither of them took their jackets off.

"This was a huge waste of time if we really can't just kill her and take the grimoires," he said.

Bonnie walked halfway in between the beds and turned back to Damon with her arms folded. "Let me go back to see her without you."

Damon made a face as if she had just told him to eat shit. "Hell no."

"She didn't help because you were there. Because you're a vampire! You saw the vervain! Not all witches are trusting of them, because they don't want their lives controlled."

"And yet you haven't decided to leave us all behind yet..." he started, closing the distance between them. Bonnie's temper flared and she clenched her fists at her sides.

"That's diff-"

"Still willing to throw your life away!" he yelled in her face. _These fucking people never learn!_

"I'M NOT!" she shouted at him. The light on the wall behind her shattered.

They both froze, unsure of what the conversation would lead to if they kept arguing even though they were both seething. She didn't back away even though she had to crane her neck to look up at him and keep eye contact.

Her green eyes blazed vivaciously. Damon could feel heat rolling off her body in mad waves; he could see her chest heaving, close enough to slightly brush against his own.

His irritation dimmed a little and he stopped focusing on her stupid request and more on how mesmerizing she looked when she was angry.

His gaze dipped down to her lips- so full and glistening- just parted enough that hot breath blew across his face. He found himself leaning into her.

But once those baby blues managed to find a way back up to Bonnie's eyes, she felt the tension change into something else and almost got sidetracked enough to reciprocate Damon's slow advance.

She took a step back and turned away from him in one movement, missing his hand that was creeping to cup her face and a few strands of her hair caressed his fingers.

He ran his hand through his hair and dropped down onto the bed, wondering what he was just about do, kicking himself for not doing it before she turned away.

"This is something I have to do," Bonnie said to disperse the weird energy.

Ignoring what had just transpired, Damon was being impossible. She'd been enjoying his company lately, but sometimes she could feel her patience wearing thin like it did before she died. But that was the old Bonnie, and she was learning that she had to use unconventional methods to get what she wanted.

Methods that she would have never utilized if she were still the same person. No one was going to hand it to her, or move Heaven and earth so she could obtain it like people did for Elena.

She needed to accept that she was different from before. She was ready to evolve into someone more confident and powerful, selfish and ambitious. Ruthless.

She shifted closer to him so that she was almost in between his legs, knelt on the floor, and placed her hands a few inches above the knee, making his eyebrows draw down on his face.

"Please, Damon," she said. "I can get her to help. I can handle myself. Don't you trust me?"

He did trust her. She was the only one as capable as he prided himself to be. The only ever time she made stupid decisions was when Elena or Jeremy were involved. But didn't he do the same when the people he cared about were in danger?

A different kind of fierceness was in her eyes, and it made Damon want to touch her even more. She squeezed his thighs a little, almost causing him to lose his composure.

"Fine," he answered. He grabbed her by the upper arms and lifted her off the floor as he stood. "Twenty minutes."

They didn't speak on the ride back to the house. Bonnie half-expected herself to chicken out if they did, although Damon might commend her on the mission she was about to fulfill.

She wrung her hands together and couldn't keep her right foot from tapping. She ran her tongue over her top front teeth in anticipation. They turned the street and drove in front of the house.

"_Only_ twenty minutes," Damon reminded her. She nodded her head and climbed out of the car.

She bent down and told him through the window, "Go park a couple streets away. Just in case."

He looked like he was about to protest so she flicked her wrist. The car lurched forward a few feet and she was running up the stairs to the house.

She knocked on the door and waited. Raven cracked open the door and glared at Bonnie.

"I told you I-"

"Raven, it's just me. No vampires involved."

The witch continued to look suspiciously at Bonnie, but said nothing. She took that as a sign to keep talking. "Have you ever heard of the witch Silas?"

The door opened enough so Bonnie could see half of Raven's body. She was draped in a taupe dress. "A legend. He's nothing but a myth."

"Believe me, he's not." Bonnie said in a conspiratorial whisper. She stepped closer to her, her eyes wide. "He is very real. And very alive. And nothing good has come or will come from his revival. He killed my father, for one."

Raven sized up the information Bonnie offered. She pushed the door open and Bonnie stepped inside. It felt like she had just stepped on the beach barefoot with the amount of energy Raven had built up in her home. Bonnie's palms began to sweat.

The hallway from the door went all the way to the back of the house and split in two; closer than that was a doorway to her left that connected the sitting room. Bushels of snapdragon were placed in numerous vases all along the faded beige walls.

"I didn't mean to hurt you earlier. I aimed for the vampire but I haven't used that type of magic in so long. I don't know what you expect from me," Raven said.

She finished locking the four bolts on her door and led Bonnie to the left. Bonnie didn't walk farther than the doorway.

"I was hoping to study your grimoires. I'm trying to find a way to seal Silas again; it may not be Qetsiyah's spell, but there has to be something I could use somewhere."

"You know grimoires are a witch's most powerful and personal asset. Sharing that information isn't common."

"But it's not unheard of. Please, Raven. I'm trying to protect the friends that I have left. All of my family is already gone. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Bonnie knew all the right words to appeal to Raven. In the brief handshake they had shared she had learned more than her name; she had learned about the baby she lost before it was born, about her two-year child being kidnapped and never seen again, and her husband's gruesome end to a vampire Raven had failed to help.

She watched Raven falter in her resolve to keep the grimoires away from Bonnie. At the end of the day, Raven was a good person although she had so many bad things happen to her. She pursed her lips and looked Bonnie in the eyes. "Okay. I'll let you look at them."

Her kindness would be her undoing.

Bonnie smiled in gratitude and Raven offered a brief smile back. She started to walk out of the room when Bonnie grabbed her. Raven jumped at the contact.

"What are you doing?" she gasped. Then her eyes bulged.

Bonnie held fast to her forearms, sucking in Raven's power to her own body. Her eyes fluttered closed at the delectable feeling. Her magic flared in acceptance and struck out like an anaconda prepared to eat its prey whole.

The witch screamed. All of her skin began to redden and blister and bubble soon after. The witch continued to screech in anguish until the sound came to a gurgling end. Bonnie finally let go and the body dropped to the sandalwood floor, sizzling against it.

Bonnie staggered back against the doorway, reeling from the provocative pulse of the foreign power coursing through her black veins. Her knees buckled under the weight of the hedonistic pull; she hit the floor and landed on her chest, unsuccessfully catching herself with her hands.

She rose and fell like a tugboat being carried by the sea with a storm on the horizon. She writhed against the floor like a cat rolling around in catnip, tousling her hair across her face and caressing herself all down her body.

It felt _so good_.

The grimoires came crashing two floors down into the sitting room from the attic when Bonnie summoned them with her boosted power. She sat up on her elbows, panting and shaking. The black veins crept away; back into her body until the next time she would release them.

She took a few more moments to regain herself then unsteadily got to her feet. She raised her palm and five grimoires rose out of the rubble and toward Bonnie.

She gathered the spellbooks in her arms, maneuvered around Raven's baked corpse, and melted the locks off the door with a single touch.

Damon drove up as she closed the door. She trotted down to him and got into the car.

"I told you it was you," she said, bouncing the books. She placed four of them down at her feet and opened the one on her lap; she traced the calligraphy on the first page: Raven Coghlan. "You should listen to me more."

"Whatever," Damon said, noticing how flushed she was. "She just let you take them?"

She looked up and beamed at him and he could fill the corner of his mouth turning up of their own accord.

"She said they'd do better with a Bennet witch than a shut in."

"Diplomacy triumphs. Who knew? Let's get the fuck out of here. I miss my bourbon."

* * *

Bonnie was sitting on the couch in her usual shirt, reading one of the grimoires that she had taken and eating vanilla yogurt. She couldn't focus on the drive back, nor when they got there.

All the new energy rolling around in her- playing with what was already inside her- made Bonnie practice some of the spells she learned reading. Sometimes she'd see a bird flying across the sky and blink at it, and it'd disappear. She didn't know where she was sending it.

She showed Damon the trick with the cloud by dropping it on a car that cut them off; the driver hydroplaned and crashed into the divider. It made Damon laugh, and Bonnie giggled nervously and pretended to care about safety to hide how it amused her.

Then she placed her hands on the dashboard and concentrated really hard; the Camaro sped 200 mph, weaving out of the way of other cars.

She still wasn't reading as quickly as usual. Damon entered the room in nothing but black pajama pants. He nodded at Bonnie and made his way to the bar.

Bonnie licked her spoon and admired his body from afar; Damon could feel her staring at him and smirked, pleased that he had the same effect on her as she on him. He popped the crystalline container open and poured his drink, then looked up at Bonnie.

The smirk fell off his face as he watched Bonnie abandon her spoon and scoop up the yogurt with two fingers. She raised it to her lips as it dripped down, and stuck out her tongue at the base of her fingers; she licked all the way to the tip of the two and slid the digits into her mouth, staring at Damon the whole time. Her mouth closed tightly around them and she sucked them while pulling them back out.

When he looked down he could see a peek of her lacy, scarlet panties.

A choked sound left his throat and he grabbed his glass. He walked out of the room, stunned.

"Goodnight, Damon," she called after him.

He climbed the steps and bumped into Jeremy on the way to his room, spilling bourbon on his stomach; it dribbled down past the V of his hips and soaked into the waistband of his pants.

"Watch where you're walking," he growled.

Jeremy looked at him as if he had just said the answer to 2 + 2 was 7. "Uh, you bumped into me?"

"Then watch where _I'm_ going," he said as he brushed pasted him.

He went inside his room and leaned against the closed door. He looked down at his stomach and wiped some of the bourbon off with his hand and licked it.

He thought about Bonnie.

He thought about her licking the bourbon right off of him. Then she'd pull his pants off of his waist and take him in one of her hands. He'd immediately feel the warmth she permanently emitted.

She'd lick him entirely, then suck on his balls as she began to work him with her hand. And he'd watch her as she looked up at him with those shining, olive green eyes and through those dark lashes. And she'd position her mouth, slightly open before his cock, still stroking him, waiting.

"Please," he'd breathe.

And those pouty lips would quirk up and she'd take him into her mouth, slowly, so he could feel every breath before she closed around him in wet warmth. She would move her head and her hand back and forth.

He'd feel the soft walls of her mouth all around him, and her tongue would swirl around his tip-out- and wrap around the shaft-in. And he'd tangle his hand in her hair as she took all of him in her throat; he wouldn't be able to stop the little thrusts or stop himself from breaking contact with her eyes and letting his head fall back against the door.

He'd come and she'd swallow the load and lick off any residue from his dick. Then she would wipe her mouth with the back of her hand and stand up against him. Even though he was the one to say please she would whisper, "Thank you."

The glass in Damon's hand shattered; blood and alcohol spilled to the floor. He looked at the mess, then looked at the bulge in his pants. He pulled the glass shards out of his hand and let them drop to the floor.

_What in God's name is happening? And how can I get it to stop?_ He went to the bathroom for a cold shower. _Maybe it shouldn't stop._

* * *

**;)**

**What'd you think? Bonnie has fully accepted the dark side. And now she's becoming bffls with Damon. Comments/reviews much appreciated!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Life goal: write my own novel and get it published.**

* * *

_Bonnie watched as two of the most important persons in her life were murdered right before her eyes. Their blood puddled and spilled, making its way to her feet. Her toes scrunched together as she stood in disabled fear. _

_She felt the first touch of blood at the tips of her toes, and she was sent falling away from it. She noticed the marks of red that followed her backwards run from the fluid and ran away from it. She saw Elena in front of her, and bee lined to her friend. _

_"Elena!" she cried. Elena turned just in time to catch Bonnie in her arms. "They're dead! They're dead!" she sobbed. _

_Elena cradled Bonnie and whispered consoling words to her. "Its okay, Bonnie. You're going to be okay." _

_Bonnie continued to cry, feeling the weight of the world crushing her shoulders._

"_Look, Bonnie. They're still alive."_

_Bonnie swiveled around to see Rudy and Sheila alive once again. They talked in the corner of the woods, unaware of what Bonnie had just seen. She laughed in relief, but the feeling didn't last long. _

_Her face fell when Silas skulked out of the treeline. Elena grabbed her before she could react, and Silas sent his fist into Rudy's face and sent him barreling to the ground unconscious. He wrapped his hands around Sheila's neck and began to choke the life out of her. Bonnie screamed and tried to break free of Elena's powerful grip._

"_Let me go! I have to save them! Let me go!" she begged, but could only watch as Sheila went limp and dropped to the ground. Then Silas knelt down by Rudy and pulled out a knife; with one quick sweep Rudy's neck was pouring blood. _

"_**Now**__ they're dead," Elena said, finally letting Bonnie go._

_Fat tears ran down Bonnie's cheeks as she faced Elena. "Why? Why are you doing this?"_

_Elena showed no remorse. She looked Bonnie straight in the eyes and shrugged. "Because I can."_

Bonnie immediately woke up afterwards. 3 a.m. She stared at the faintly glowing stars on the ceiling, feeling a scratching at the back of her brain. She used a bit of her magic to amplify the glow of the stars.

She felt a sickness crawling inside of her; it was slithering around amongst the magic energy within her body. Each day it grew heavier and louder. She didn't know how long it would be before it couldn't be controlled.

* * *

Damon sat in the library half reading one of the grimoires from Raven; the book was referencing some random witches who were put on trial and killed. Antonia- using magic to make crops and animals grow faster, forced to eat diseased rats, toads and snakes. Ava- using magic for excessive monetary gain, boiled alive in oil. Vita- using magic to poison others, dismembered alive. Lucilia- blah blah blah. Who cared?

The other half of his mind was preoccupied with Elena and Bonnie.

It'd been a few days since they came back from Connecticut; after the night that Bonnie slept over, Damon had avoided her like the plague. Sure he had had thoughts of the sexual kind at the back of his mind whenever she performed a spell for them or bantered with him or sometimes when she just walked past him in a pair of jeans.

Those thoughts stayed where they belonged as he mildly acknowledged her appeal. But the night they got back…that was a full-blown sexual fantasy. About _Bonnie_. And she'd purposely caused it.

_The whole situation was just weird and since his usual course of action of dealing with something that was bothering him was killing it and, obviously, that was not an option, he would just ignore her. _

_She didn't go looking for him before she left the next day and he didn't go looking for her; but he did listen as she gathered her things, and say goodbye to Stefan and Elena, and walked out of the door, and unlocked her car, and got in the car, and closed the door, and fiddled with the radio, and then finally drove off. _

_And then he spent the better part of 30 minutes thinking about her tongue again. Thankfully, he was interrupted by a knock at the door._

_Elena walked in._

_Okay, unthankfully he was interrupted by a knock at the door._

_And what had she wanted? To carry on the conversation they were having before Bonnie walked out of the shower with nothing on but that Green Day shirt. Damon had forgotten all about the texts he was exchanging with Elena at that point. But it had been about how she felt about Stefan._

"_Hey, can we talk?"_

_Damon internally rolled his eyes. He felt like he and Elena were always talking lately. He liked her mouth when it was busy with his mouth- and other things- better._

"_Where's Stefan?" he asked as he swung his legs to the floor. Elena came to sit by him on the bed. He didn't turn to look at her, he just played with the ring on his finger._

"_He went to the Grille," she said. _

_Damon nodded and was pleased that Stefan was finally able to go out on his own. He didn't have the nightmares anymore, but sometimes he still stared into space getting caught up in his summer trauma. He was doing better. Damon felt like he had less to do with it than Elena; she was around Stefan more often while he was driving around befriending a siren._

"_The texts last night," she started. "You never responded to me."_

"_I got hungry." _

"_Oh. I thought you were mad," she said._

_He thought about the text; it said something about not wanting to think about being in a relationship when so much crazy shit was happening. _

"_Why would I be? Were you trying to say that we're over?" he asked her. _

_His head snapped up at her silence. She was fiddling with her own daylight ring. Any lingering thoughts of Bonnie were immediately ejected out of his brain._

"_Are you __**breaking up with me**_?_" _

"_Damon I…I don't know. I just think that…I don't even know what I think. I just know that I owe Stefan. We BOTH do. He's your brother and I would like to be friends with him when he fully recovers. I'm not focusing on-"_

"_Oh, __**please**__, Elena. Just STOP." Damon jumped off the bed. "I knew this would happen. Its just so classic Elena." He waved his hands in the air angrily._

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_You and your whole 'selfless' act. You're always stuck between me and my brother, but you know what makes you waver? What makes you choose?" He glared at her. "Its __**pain**__. Whoever's in more pain. That's how you choose."_

"_That's not true!" Elena cried. She stood up from the bed._

"_Isn't it though?" He closed in on Elena, smothering her with his anger. She tried to shrink away from him but he wouldn't allow it. _

_"The first time you kissed me, I was dying from the werewolf bite. You're bleeding heart was swayed by my suffering. That's how it all started. That's how we got to this." He waved a hand between them._

_Her lip quivered and her voice was shaky when she spoke again. "I'm not choosing Stefan. I'm just trying to do the right thing."_

_He sighed. "Don't worry. You have us twisted around your little finger." He put one of his hands on Elena's cheek, brushing the hair away from it. _

"_We'll play this game for all eternity. You, me, and my brother…the dysfunctional threesome. One day I might be trying to regrow a limb or maybe I'll have a lethal, vampire version of the chicken pox. And you'll nurse me the whole time and once I'm better, you'll want me back. Because you're so sure I'll be waiting for you. I can't tell who's worse: you or Katherine."_

_Her eyes widened and the tears fell. She ran out of the room crying and promptly left the house. Damon's lip curled as he stood in the middle of his room. _

_It took five more seconds before he erupted. He broke off one of the bedposts and sent it flying into the mirror leaning on the wall. The glass shattered all over the floor but it didn't help Damon's anger. So he continued to destroy his room. _

Nothing survived the fallout. Not the curtains, not the windows, not the floors. He had to call someone to completely refurbish it while he stayed in another room. When Jeremy had gotten back from work he had given Damon a dirty look but said nothing to him; Stefan just shook his head and walked away.

Sometimes he heard Elena crying and he felt a little bad for what he had said but did she feel bad for what she had said? And now, like Bonnie, he was now ignoring her. But today Bonnie came to him. She entered the library and hopped over the back of the couch to sit next to him.

"I'm bored," she told him.

Was it too late to leave the room? No, why should she be able to displace him when he was comfortable? "Why aren't you reading the grimoires?"

"I've read all of them and didn't find anything."

"Even this one?" He lifted the grimoire he was reading.

"Yeah and it took half the time its taking you," she said.

"Wow, you're so talented," he replied sarcastically.

"I used to write book reports for money in school."

He smirked, almost forgetting the mood he was in. "I'm surprised your moral compass didn't spin off its wheel."

"Neither did any of my teachers and that's how I got away with it. It was too unexpected."

Damon closed the book and looked at her as she picked lint off the sweater she was wearing.

"Did you just come over to tell me you're bored?"

She looked up at him. "No, I came to fight."

One of his eyebrows quirked up. Was this going to be about Elena?

She waggled her fingers at him and said, "I've been practicing some of the magic in the grimoires. I want you to help me practice."

Damon eyed her dubiously. It could still be because of Elena. "When's the last time you talked to Elena?"

Bonnie shrugged and acted like she hadn't been avoiding her. "The morning I left here? Why, has she been looking for me? I still don't have a cell phone."

Damon relaxed. He could stand to blow off some steam. "What was that about a fight?"

They went behind the boarding house and pretty deep into the woods. Bonnie stretched her muscles and Damon cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.

"I'll go easy on you," he said smirking.

Bonnie smiled. "Don't bother." She shook out her muscles and closed her eyes. "First one on their back loses."

Damon didn't respond. He just ran at her. A spike split out of the ground before he could reach her and he flipped backwards. Bonnie opened her eyes and she had that look in them that gave him chills. The wind picked up all around them.

"Come at me, Damon," she taunted.

He ran at her again and several spikes pierced through the ground and followed his retreat. He jumped up and kicked one of the tips of sharpened mud at Bonnie. She lifted a hand and made it freeze before it could hurt her, then sent it flying back at Damon. He leaned to one side, easily dodging it.

"You'll have to do better than that, Judgy."

The leaves around them trembled on the ground and, suddenly, she took the offensive. She skated forward on the leaves and carried a wave of them behind her. Damon jumped back as she spun, arching a hand above her head and slicing it down, sending leaves crashing in the spot where Damon once stood.

Before he could take another step back she sent more leaves near his back up into the air; if he hadn't heard them crinkling behind him she would have gotten him. He flipped to the right and boosted himself off a tree to fly at her with a raised fist. The leaves came barreling at him and cut his arms. He cursed and bounced to the left. The thin scratches healed as quickly as they had opened.

"What's the matter? Not as easy as you thought it'd be?" She smirked at him.

He took a moment to admire the wall of brown leaves that danced behind Bonnie; it was like she was a part of the woods with the forest green of her sweater and the glowing brown of her skin. She was a force of nature.

He took a step towards her without meaning to and realized his absent-mindedness could get a flurry of knives sent at him and he might not be able to dodge. But instead the leaves spiraled all around her and dropped back to the floor.

She was gone.

Damon stood wide-eyed for a moment but remembered that it was a sparring session. He waited and he listened. A flurry of leafy movement happened to his right and he swung. He felt his hand graze her cheek and the leaves cut his hand up again as she disappeared.

He broke a branch off of a tree and waited again. The moment he heard movement he spun 180 degrees and was throwing the branch in his hand. But then he saw her. It wasn't Bonnie.

It was Elena.

He tried to keep hold of the wood but it left his fingers and flew at breakneck speed.

"NO!" he shouted as he ran after it with vampire speed, but it was too late. Elena caught it right in her chest.

Right in her heart.

She jerked backwards as it pierced her, but stayed standing. Her eyes never left Damon as her skin began to gray and she dropped to her knees. He slid forward on his knees and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Elena, no. No! No, God, no no! I'm sorry, don't die! Don't die!"

Bonnie watched the scene a few feet to the right of Damon. The leaves swayed around her and she couldn't help drinking in the sight of Elena's dead body without mirth. The black veins pulsed in her fingertips.

"You lose," she said.

"What?" Damon shouted at her. Elena's body disappeared from his arms and he was flying through the air in a swirling mass of leaves then slamming back into the forest floor. Bonnie was standing over him when he blinked away the stars.

"I said you lose," she repeated, smirking.

Damon struggled to understand. "A hallucination?" She nodded at him triumphantly.

He sat up on his elbows and he was fuming.

"YOU MADE ME HALLUCINATE I KILLED ELENA!" he bellowed.

Bonnie didn't flinch. "Like I said before: unexpected. That's why it worked."

Damon was extremely close to losing it. That fear he had felt was too real. He still hadn't talked to Elena after that fight. And watching her die…God, he still cared so much about her.

"Are you mad?" Bonnie asked.

Damon gritted his teeth and lay back on the floor. He pressed the bottom of his palms into his eyes, trying to get control of his anger. It was Bonnie who did this. _Bonnie. _It really was unexpected.

It made him feel a little sick. It made him feel a little proud. He felt his outrage die down the more he thought about how accomplished Bonnie was becoming with her magic. He didn't know she was capable of everything she did today; he was impressed.

He pulled his hands away from eyes and looked up at her.

"Using what your enemy cares about against them…that was good. Definitely unexpected. But so is this."

He kicked her legs from underneath her and rolled on top of her, pinning her arms to either side of her with his hands.

"You lost round 2," he said.

"You didn't even say we started round 2 yet!"

"Neither will Silas," he said, looking her up and down.

Her sweater had risen up so he could see a couple of inches of skin before her jeans started. His eyes roamed up slowly over her chest. Her hair was splayed out around her head; some leaves were caught in it. His eyes went to her lips and her tongue poked out to glide over them.

He would have stopped there, he almost did, but his favorite thing about her were those emerald orbs. They stared into each other's eyes, feeling an electricity between them. But then he noticed the way her pupils seemed to shift, and the moment was gone. His eyebrows drew together suspiciously.

Bonnie realized something was off, so she quickly said, "Ready for another trip?"

Damon groaned, let go of her arms, and rolled off of her. "Oh great. To where?"

"Alabama."

He sat up. "I hope this one has useful information. This is only the second witch and I'm already tired if it."

"Why? I love traveling," Bonnie said sitting up. She shook the leaves out of her hair.

"Yeah cause its all expense paid for you. Meanwhile my wallet starts feeling lighter and lighter." He stood up and brushed off his clothes.

"Why are you complaining? Can't you just compel someone to give you all of their money?" she asked following his lead and trying to clean herself up.

"I could but I worked hard for my savings."

She gave him a skeptical look and placed a hand on her hip. "As what? Damon Salvatore male gigolo?"

Damon turned and started walking away. "Actually…"

Bonnie gasped. "_Oh my God you were a male prostitute?"_ She ran up to his retreating form and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

The force of her jumping onto him didn't disturb his pace and he hooked his hands underneath her knees as if they had been this close for years.

"Why not get paid for my skills," he replied, smirking.

"Were you expensive?"

"Of course."

"Did you give discounts to friends?"

"Why, you looking to buy?"

"Only if its 90% off."

"You still wouldn't be able to afford me."

Bonnie laughed heartily and started asking questions about the customers he would take and the stuff they made him do on their way back to the mansion. He played coy and chuckled every so often.

But he couldn't forget the way the black of her eyes had distorted, or that it was the third time he had seen it happen.

* * *

**I hope I can finish this story before winter break ends. I have hard classes coming up next semester**


	16. Chapter 16

**Quick update. I just wanted to get this out of the way.**

* * *

When they got back to the house, Caroline's car was in the driveway. Bonnie slipped off of Damon's back and walked a little bit ahead of him. She was surprised Caroline was here, but even more surprised that it had taken her so long to come back.

She must be really enjoying college, she thought.

She felt a dark cloud looming behind her and looked back at Damon.

"What's your problem?"

The only answer he gave her was a glare. She was about to say something when the front door opened. Caroline stood in the doorway looking peppy and chic as usual.

"Bonnie, _finally_." Caroline crinkled her nose at the sight of Damon. "What are you doing with him?"

"He was helping me with my magic. Hello to you too." She hopped up the stairs and let Caroline pull her into a hug.

"You don't have any idea what's going on, do you?"

"Apparently not."

Caroline threw Damon a nasty look, grabbed Bonnie's wrist, and pulled her inside. Bonnie was able to look back at Damon's miffed demeanor right before her surroundings started speeding past her.

Next thing she knew, she was in Elena's room. The vampire was curled up on her bed, red nosed and teary eyed. She sat up when the two arrived.

"I found Bonnie in the woods," Caroline said, but she left out who she was with. "Elena's been trying to get a hold of you for days, Bonnie. Where have you been?"

Dodging that topic for the second time in the same day she said, "Uh, I still need to buy a phone. What happened?"

Then Elena started blubbering all over herself and Caroline ran over to console her. Bonnie tried not to gag but went to go sit on the other side of her in the middle of the bed.

"I ended things with Damon for good," she said.

Suddenly interested, Bonnie asked, "Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do."

Caroline was going to take that answer, but not Bonnie. "Why?"

"Because Stefan is back and he needs us. Both of us not together," Elena explained.

"So you broke up with him for Stefan?"

"That's not what I'm saying, Bonnie!" She began sobbing into her hands. Caroline looked at Bonnie like she shouldn't have brought her. If she was thinking that, Bonnie agreed.

"That's what Damon said too!" Elena cried into her hands. The sound of her muffled tears did nothing but bore Bonnie. "He said I'm worse than Katherine!"

Caroline rubbed Elena's back sympathetically. "That asshole…I knew he'd never change."

Caroline's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her skull when she looked at Bonnie again. So the witch patted Elena's thigh awkwardly.

"He was just upset, Elena," Bonnie told her. "He didn't mean it."

_She _didn't mean it. Damon always spoke some semblance of the truth, even enraged. Elena was more like Katherine than she would ever admit recently. But if Bonnie said that, Elena _and_ Caroline would probably have a conniption.

Elena continued to sniffle and cry and the three of them stayed in bed together until Caroline and Elena finally fell asleep. Bonnie snuck out of the room and headed toward Damon's aura. She went into the room without knocking.

It was just as big as his old room, but it looked more like Stefan's, although the walls were cream and bare; there were chairs, a desk, and random small tables. Damon was sitting at a desk drinking. Multiple blood bags lay empty on the table.

"Knock much?" he said and looked up at her with disinterest.

She walked over and pulled herself onto the desk. "I know why you've been shady and in a bad mood all day," she said.

He rolled his eyes and took a gulp of his drink. "I heard."

"Oh, right. Vampire hearing abilities. How far can you guys hear anyways?"

"Far enough for us to not have this conversation," he stated.

"No one will be able to hear us." Bonnie snapped her fingers. Nothing that they could see happened. Damon looked unfazed so Bonnie screamed at the top of her lungs. He dropped his glass and covered his ears in pain.

"What the FUCK is wrong with you!" he yelled.

Bonnie put a finger to her lips and waited. Nothing. No one came running, no one moved. They stayed sleeping. "Like magic," she said, smiling.

"My ears are still ringing," he grumbled. He twisted his pinky finger inside his ear.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You and Elena?"

"Over."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"We agreed no relationship shit. And it wasn't that important."

"You never say what's important to you out loud."

He didn't say anything at that. Bonnie carried on the conversation. "She's not a doppleganger for nothing, huh."

Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "Excuse me?"

"Did you really see a future with Elena, Damon? Your whole future? All of eternity?"

He got up from his seat to pace the room, but still said nothing.

"Did she make you feel loved? Did she inspire you to be a better person? Were you happy, and I mean _really_ happy? Did she make you forget about all your problems with Stefan?"

Her eyes followed as he paced around the room. She could tell a new wave of anger rose with every question that she asked. And yet, he remained silent.

"Did she make you forget about all your problems with Katherine?"

Damon stopped mid-step. Bonnie debated letting the last question out for him to hear, but decided to.

"Did she make you forget about all your problems with yourself?" she asked him. That got a reaction.

"Just because we started getting a little chummy doesn't mean you know anything about me," he ground out. He stood with his fists clenched at his sides. His face was stone. Honestly, she knew him well enough that pushing him any further would lead to disastrous results.

"Oh please." Bonnie hopped off of the desk and walked up to him. "I was reading you before I ever let your name pass my lips. You're so simple. And everyone knows it."

She prowled around him so her back was facing the bed. She turned his face to her and let her hand linger on his cheek. "That's how Katherine and Elena played you so easily. They knew all the right words to say, the right cues to step a little closer and touch you."

Her hand dropped. She didn't know why she was saying these things. She was just so frustrated with everyone falling at Elena's feet like she was the second coming of Jesus. She hated that she used to be one of those people.

"And you ate that shit up. And you'd ask yourself why you did even though you knew how it would end. I can tell you why, Damon. It's because you're a lover… and you became a killer to make up for it. But you're too much of a romantic, and that ruthless part of you will never catch up."

And then she was being lifted off the floor and thrown onto the bed. His lips smashed into hers, violent and bruising. She lay shocked underneath him, but was kissing him back a moment later. Bonnie ripped Damon's shirt open and wrapped her legs around his waist; she ran her hand down his abs while he tangled his hands in her hair. T

hey broke for air and Bonnie flipped them over, grinding on top of him as she went to kiss him again. His hands slid up her thighs and grabbed the end of her sweater. She sat up again and let him yank the sweater over her head to throw it to the floor. His hand grabbed the back of her neck and they were kissing again.

He flipped them back so he was on top, pressing his naked flesh against her own and pushing her further into the soft down of the comforter. He trailed hot kisses and nips down her neck, across her clavicle, and down to her breast. Bonnie purred and curled her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck.

One of his hands traveled down the flat of her stomach. It was warm, slow descent so it didn't distract from the attention he was giving her body, but Bonnie was good at having her focus on more than one thing at a time. Her breathing increased with anticipation. Her hand scratched down his back and explored the power that had kept him alive for all of these centuries; it felt cold like the first snow of the season.

He was sucking at a spot on her neck. He was unbuttoning her jeans and sliding the zipper down. He was a snowflake melting on her skin. He was pushing his tongue into her mouth. He was reaching into her panties. He was winter itself.

There wasn't too much, but there was just enough. His fingers rolled over her clit a few times and two slid into her. Her grip on him tightened and he bit into her lip, eliciting a moan from her.

There was just enough magic to snag from his body into her own. She could see his body desiccating from her touch. It mummified before her very eyes, until the husk that was left looked nothing like Damon.

"No!" she cried out, turning her head away from him.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him off of her with the help of her magic. Damon's feet skidded on the wood floor. When Bonnie sat up on her hands his fangs were bared and veins pointed to his blood red eyes at the sudden use of magic.

She was panting when she hopped off the bed trying to fix her disheveled hair. Her hands trembled as she fumbled to close her jeans.

"That's enough." She showed him her back and went to pick up the sweater.

Five long strides took Damon to Bonnie. He ran his hands down Bonnie's arms when she stood from picking up the sweater. He brought his face down and grazed his fangs along her neck.

"I told you to stop," she said to Damon, but she leaned her head to the side to give him easier access despite her claim. The sweater dropped from her hands.

"Are you sure?" Damon whispered huskily. He spun her around and squeezed her ass. He bent his knees so he could rub against her. Their faces were so close that their lips were touching. They never took their eyes off of each other. "But you were so wet…"

She tried to resist him. She really did. She was trapped in his embrace and in the blue of his eyes. He pecked her lips and she didn't reciprocate. He looked amused at her willpower. He wrapped one of her legs around him and rotated his hips harder. The two hands in-between their chests balled into fists.

His eyes coaxed her. His hands lifted up her torso from her waist and he stuck his thumbs underneath her bra, sweeping across her nipples. He brushed Bonnie's lips and hers parted slightly. His tongue slid inside her mouth and touched hers, and then he drew it back. He slid it inside again; Bonnie met him halfway, and he was back out again.

Her arms slowly went around Damon's neck and she opened her mouth fully to take in his tongue. Their eyelids closed and their tongues twirled around each other with every kiss. He unhooked her bra and fondled her.

He was good. The rumors about Damon Salvatore were very, very true. No wonder Elena was so upset.

And that's when she remembered who exactly she was so close to having sex with. Brash, arrogant, emotionally volatile Damon Salvatore. Even more so because of Elena. This was about Elena!

Damon barked in pain and dropped Bonnie after having his hands burned.

"What the hell, Bonnie!" he yelled at her. He was taken aback by the look of murder on her face.

"You lost the girl so you fuck the best friend?" she yelled back, revolted. She snapped her bra back on and stomped over to her sweater.

"Grow up, Damon!" She stuffed her arms and head into the sweater and pulled it on. "And get your shit together so we can go find some FUCKING WITCHES!"

Damon could only stand stupidly as she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

**A bit shorter than the past few chapters. **

**I'd really like to thank you guys for continuing to read the story. And the reviews have been so lovely. I know its heavy story and not a lot of Bamon right now, so thank you. A million times thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy it until the end if we make it that far together. xoxoxoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

**Fringe is on for background noise but lemme tell ya…I stop writing and start watching without even realizing it.**

**Chapter 17 & 18 were written together, but I split them in two. **

**I thought of a plump Kitty from That 70's show as Mrs. Wilson. I love that show. And if you've ever watched FMA I thought of Izumi's husband for Mr. Wilson's body type.**

**I wanted to tie up the loose end Elena for this chapter. No A/N at the beginning of next chapter just keep reading!**

**Also, again, thank you for the reviews!**

* * *

It took him two days to stop thinking about Bonnie. He was knocking back glasses of bourbon right after she left, but he could still feel her- that palpable heat…how her heart raced in her chest. And he could still smell her…like she was a freshly baked cake. She had tasted as sweet as she smelled.

It was bothering him so much because it constantly replayed in his mind that he would start slamming his head against the nearest wall. That didn't work either.

So he decided to ride it out; when the thoughts came he went back into that night. He'd kiss her mouth and her neck and other parts of her body. He'd lick and suck and finger until the thoughts went away.

Stefan caught him once standing in the kitchen stuck in a replay, staring into space. He had asked him what he was doing, Damon had told him to fuck off. The thoughts never really went away but they weren't constantly bombarding him anymore.

Then it took him another day to get over what Bonnie had said before all of that. All the questions she had asked him were ones he had asked himself even before he managed to get Elena.

He knew his shortcomings. He knew his insecurities. Apparently, Bonnie did too. She was too damn smart for her own good. Or maybe he was just too transparent. Whatever...

Present time. Damon was sitting in the living room, drinking as usual. Stefan walked in and poured himself a glass.

"How many vampire alcoholics do you think there are?" he asked as he took a seat next to him.

Damon sipped away. "So many."

Stefan nodded his head and took a swallow. They sat in silence for a while. It was actually pleasant.

"You have to talk to her, Damon."

Stefan always did know how to ruin a good thing. He was in no mood for this. "Shouldn't you be rooting for me not to so you can swoop in and be her hero again."

Stefan sighed loudly at Damon's attempt to brush him off. "We can't go through this again. This can't be Katherine all over again."

Bonnie's voice echoed through Damon's head_: Did she make you forget all your problems with Stefan?_

Damon chuckled darkly. "She's not a doppleganger for nothing, huh."

Stefan's brow furrowed.

"You used to make sure they made my favorite soup when I was sick. You made sure monsters weren't hiding in the dark places of my room. You taught me how to throw a ball and you taught me how to ride a horse. You taught me how to hunt and you taught me how to swim. You did that all for me, Damon. I don't want us to go back to hating each other."

Damon sighed. He started to finish his drink; Stefan looked away thinking that it was the usual Damon dismissal. He jumped when Damon clapped him on the back of the neck and held it gently. Stefan turned to Damon in surprise.

"When I found out you were missing, getting you back here alive became my first priority. Then it was getting you better. I got you back when the tomb vampires kidnapped and tortured you. I tried helping you with your blood addiction. I found you when Klaus coerced you into traveling with him. Because you're my baby brother. And that'll never change."

Stefan gave Damon a small, hopeful smile. Maybe they could actually do it. Maybe they could go back to the way things used to be. They spent another hour in front of the fire drinking, finally brothers again outside of an allegiance to take down their enemies.

* * *

Damon stood outside Elena's door wishing he were about to do anything else than talk to her. He knocked on the door. Elena opened it slowly; she looked a little bewildered to see him outside of her room.

"Damon. Hey."

Damon scratched the back of his neck. "Can we talk?"

Elena opened the door wider to let him. He stepped inside the room but didn't say anything. He didn't really know what he should say.

Elena stuffed her hands inside of her front pockets. "So…you wanted to talk?"

He sucked in a breath and decided to just let whatever came to him fall out of his mouth. "I don't care what you do with your life, Elena."

Elena's mouth dropped open. _Okaaay…maybe not the best way to start the conversation_, he thought. He struggled to find a way to make it sound better.

"What I mean is…I don't want to control you…anymore." It felt weird saying it, but he realized how true it was. He had been controlling Elena or trying to control her since before they even got together. And she had just let him. What did that say about the both of them? "We shouldn't be together."

Elena nodded solemnly. "There's just…too much baggage. I was losing myself with you and that's not what I wanted. I even forgot that's not what I wanted."

She was right. Her personality had dampened as soon as she started spending extended amount of time with him. The Elena he had fallen for was full of empathy and strong willed. She tried to make her own decisions. She tried to make sure no one else got hurt even if she did. Damon had taken that away from her.

"But that's what I wanted," he said. "For a long time…since Katherine…since my brother…it didn't matter what anyone else wanted as long as I was happy or the closest thing I could ever be to it."

Elena started to cry. "I loved you."

"I loved you too." He walked up to her and wiped some of her tears away, but they were quickly replaced. "But I guess that wasn't good enough. Can't say I'm surprised…it never really was."

Elena stretched on her toes to give Damon a lingering kiss. Their last kiss. She sank back onto the floor and rested her hand on his cheek. "Someday it will be."

* * *

Damon sat on the couch in the library. Doing nothing. He was just staring at a shelf full of books. He didn't hear Bonnie enter the room, but became aware of her presence when she hopped over the back of the couch.

"Two tickets to Florence, Alabama!" she said, holding up the tickets.

_So she's not mad anymore. Good to know._ "I hate flying."

"Even when its first class?"

He came back to the real world. "First class?" He snatched the tickets from her hand and looked them over. He narrowed his eyes. "How did you pay for this?"

"With your credit card," she answered.

"_How_ did you get my card?"

"Uh, I'm a witch. I'm capable of way more than ordering stuff online on someone else's dime."

He sputtered at her trying to express his indignation and she jokingly sputtered back. She squealed when he grabbed her by the arms and swung her across his lap and started tickling her. She started screaming and kicking but he continued to terrorize her until Stefan and Elena walked in.

"Hope we're not interrupting anything," Stefan said.

"Just this gold-digger spending all of my money." Damon jabbed her in the side one final time.

"Its for a good cause!" She didn't bother getting off of him and started putting her foot in his face. He's swatted it away and threateningly pointed at her but couldn't kill the smirk on his face.

"What cause?" Elena asked.

"The search for valuable grimoires to defeat Silas," Bonnie said.

"Well they're all valuable, some of them just aren't for our current objective," Stefan corrected.

"This is why I like Stefan better than you," Bonnie said.

"He's not the one paying for first class seats," Damon retorted.

"Wait until you see the hotel room I got," Bonnie said back, smiling slyly.

"Wha-"

Bonnie scrambled off the couch before Damon could attack her again. Elena grabbed her arm and started dragging her out of the room. The smile on Bonnie's face faltered.

"Okay you've been phoneless for too long. Let's go to the store," Elena said.

The two brothers watched them leave the room. Stefan turned to Damon, half-smiling. Damon noticed his stare and his face went flat.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothing," Stefan said. He shifted on his feet and Damon waited for a real answer. "Its just…when I see you with Bonnie, I see the old you. From before all of this."

Damon rolled his eyes and placed both arms on the back of the couch. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Stefan expected his skepticism. "You talked to Elena."

"And?"

"I didn't think you would so easily or so soon, if at all. You went to her."

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Exactly. Its what I wanted. Damon, when do you ever do what I want?"

Damon sighed loudly. "Why can't anything just be what it is with you? Why make everything so complicated?"

"Alright, I'll make it simple. Did Bonnie say you should talk to Elena?"

"No." She had told him to figure his shit out, actually.

Stefan didn't believe him. "Its not a bad thing Damon."

"Its not _anything_, Stefan!" Damon yelled, exasperated. "You're imagining things. Get over it!"

Stefan shrugged, nonplussed by his brother's anger, and left the room. Damon sat still on the couch; his gaze went back to the shelf he had been staring at before he was interrupted. Was there really that much of a difference since he became closer to Bonnie? No…he had been trying to make up for his mistakes since before they found out she was dead. But…maybe she was having a positive impact on him.

He groaned at his train of thought. _Stefan can fuck off._

Meanwhile, Bonnie was stuck in Elena's SUV headed to the nearest Verizon. Bonnie crinkled her nose at the whining of Taylor Swift from the stereo. She changed the station and stopped when she heard AC/DC. Elena's eyebrow quirked up.

"What? Diverse music taste is good to have," bonnie said defensively.

"Right…"

Bonnie started singing along to the song.

"What's going on with you and Damon?" Elena asked out of seemingly nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...things are different between you two."

Bonnie glared at Elena. "Like we're actually _friends?"_

"I don't know, its just weird," she said.

"Is this because you're not the center of his attention anymore?"

Elena gasped. "What? No!"

"Because you don't seem too concerned about him when you're around Stefan," the witch said.

"I'm just trying to help him get better," Elena argued, offended at Bonnie's accusations.

"Never said you weren't."

Clearly shocked at Bonnie's attitude Elena asked, "Where is this coming from?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Why are you suddenly worried about my relationship with Damon?"

"I was only asking a question, Bonnie."

"Well don't next time." Bonnie turned away from Elena to look out the window. Elena stayed quiet in embarrassment and anger. They got to the store and Bonnie hopped out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride. I can find my way back," Bonnie told Elena. She slammed the door and walked inside of the store.

Elena was so annoying. Yes, she liked Damon. So what? She liked how his eyes were the blue of Antarctic icebergs, and his lips were too pink. She liked his dark hair, the way his shoulders filled out his shirt, and his abs. He did amazing things with his tongue and made her body hum when he touched her.

He made her laugh. He made everything that had happened drift to the back of her mind. Elena didn't own the Salvatore brothers. They could be friends with whomever they wanted to. Or more than friends. Whatever, it was none of her business! She quickly chose the new Samsung Galaxy phone, had it set up, and went home to start packing.

She packed two days worth of clothes then sat on her bed when she was done. She stared at the wall, thinking about the empty master bedroom. She willed herself to get up and walk out of her room. She stopped outside her door, staring at the double doors to the master. She took a deep breath and made her way down the hallway; she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The room was dark because none of the shutters were open. The room was completely tidy besides the dust that was settling all around. Bonnie went further inside to the bed. She sat on the right side of the bed, his favorite side to sleep on.

"I miss you, dad," she whispered to the empty room. "Even if you were barely around. I still miss you. And I love you. And…I'm sorry."

Something caught her eye on the nightstand; she reached out and picked up the pocket watch Rudy used to carry around. The tears came quickly. She sat on the bed crying for well over an hour. When she was done, she slid the necklace on and placed the clock underneath her shirt.

* * *

The plane to Alabama had just taken off. Bonnie and Damon sat in first class; Damon was clearly uncomfortable.

"You look sick," she commented. He gave her a dirty look. "Are you afraid we're going to crash? I can read you your fortune to tell you how you die."

She held out her hand for him to place his in. He tried to ignore her but eventually gave in. She used her right index finger to trace the lines on his palm.

"Good news: you won't die by plane crash. Wait, I see something. Hmmm…it says you are…an asshole." She dropped his hand and batted her eyelashes at him.

He was unimpressed. "So you are still mad," Damon said.

Bonnie flipped her hair and pulled out the SkyMall magazine. "Not really."

Damon rolled his eyes. _Classic female antics. _"Its not like you weren't into it."

"That's not the point. When I take you it won't be because you're reeling from a loss, lost in your feelings."

The flight attendant reached their aisle and asked if they wanted blankets. Bonnie requested one. Damon blinked several times, catching up with what she just said.

"You said when?"

"I did."

"You said when."

"Yes."

"You said _when_ you **take** me."

"Mhm."

He narrowed his eyes. "I gotta tell you Bonnie. I'm not sure what you're saying right now."

Bonnie continued to flip through the magazine, unperturbed by the conversation. "We both know it's only a matter of time before it happens. It already almost did."

"What's happened to you?" Damon asked suddenly. At Bonnie's confused look he elaborated. "You've changed. Almost completely."

She sighed and pressed against her seat. For the first time in a long while she seemed like the old Bonnie: thinking about what she was going to say next and fiddling with her hands.

"From the moment you and Stefan came back to town…I've been fighting for my life ever since. I ended up with a martyr complex, survivor's guilt, and an under abundance of self-esteem. That's how Shane was able to manipulate me so easily. Everything that happened after that and…on the other side…"

She took a deep breath and stared at the back of the seat in front of her. Even though she was sitting right next to him- not an inch away- Damon felt like she was somewhere far from him. "Being tortured will change you."

She looked back at him and said with conviction, "I couldn't come back and be the same person."

She couldn't come back as a person who let people stomp all over her. She couldn't come back as a person who could only watch as people she loved suffered.

A playful smile rose and she nudged Damon with her elbow. "I think you've been rubbing off on me, too."

Damon chuckled and the flight attendant came back with Bonnie's blanket.

They touched down in Florence, got their rental car, and headed to the hotel. They got their room key and took the elevator up to their room; Bonnie's cryptic message had Damon on edge throughout the trip, but the room wasn't that expensive and when they went inside it was a regular suite with two queen beds.

"You're lucky Alabama didn't have anything better than this," she told him.

"Why are we all the way in Alabama again?" Damon inquired, dropping his bad and falling back onto a bed. "There are closer witches to Mystic Falls."

He bounced when Bonnie flopped down next to him. "Because traveling for free is fun?"

Damon envisioned a pile of cash being burned away. He questioned whether being able to spend time with Bonnie was worth it.

They decided not to go find the witches that night. Instead they went out to eat at a steakhouse and spent the rest of the night in on the couch. Damon channel surfed and described the women of past flings to Bonnie who would recreate them as mirages while she ate a large brownie topped with vanilla ice cream.

She'd add traits that he didn't describe like saggy boobs, hulk arms, or a watermelon shaped head. They got a good laugh out of it.

She got up the next morning more than ready.

"What is that?" Damon asked when he saw her put Rudy's pocket watch on.

"It was my dad's." She put it underneath her shirt. "I found it before we left."

Damon stepped up to her. "Good luck charm?"

Bonnie shrugged. "Sophia told me it'd be a good idea to reserve magic in objects on me. That's why she has all those necklaces and bracelets."

Damon nodded and said nothing. He just stared at her. "I'll be fine, Damon," Bonnie assured, guessing his train of thought. "I'll be back before you know it."

The house that the witch or witches lived in was a one-story, red brick house. It had no porch; the driveway to the garage broke away into a path to the front door. The lawn had a plethora of vegetation growing. She walked to the door and rang the doorbell.

A small woman with dirty blonde hair in tight curls and deep blue eyes opened the door. Her face was plump along with the rest of her body. She had on a pink flower apron. "Oh, hello there. How can I help you?"

Bonnie smiled at the woman and stuck her hand out. "Hi, I'm Bonnie Bennett." The woman took Bonnie's hand. She was very warm and her magic made Bonnie feel like she was soaking in a lukewarm bath. "I'm a friend of your daughter. Is she here right now?"

The woman brightened up immediately. "Oh no, dear, she's out right now. But she should be home soon. You're welcome to come inside and wait for her."

It was so easy it was sad. "That would be great. Thank you, Mrs. Wilson."

Bonnie stepped inside the house; the walls were painted a light blue and there were family pictures everywhere. The hallway led to the living room almost immediately. Plastic covered white furniture filled the room alone with a large television set. A balding man was sitting on the couch watching Animal Planet.

"So how do you know our Rebecca?"

Bonnie shifted around a few objects on a white, wooden side table. "I met her through a friend. We really hit it off."

"That's lovely. Honey, can you text Rebecca to hurry home?" Mrs. Wilson called to her husband. He grunted at her. A moment later he was telling them Rebecca wasn't planning on coming home tonight.

Bonnie frowned. "That's too bad."

"How is that possible? Did she know you were stopping by?" Mrs. Wilson asked. She placed her pudgy hand on Bonnie's arm.

Bonnie looked at the hand sadly. "No. She didn't."

She seized Mrs. Wilson's arm suddenly. The black veins instantly shot up her arm. Mrs. Wilson didn't even scream as she died-her mouth just gaped open and close like a fish before she dropped to the floor.

When Bonnie looked up from the body, Mr. Wilson was up from the couch with his cell phone in hand. He was taller than Bonnie expected and looked fat but it was mostly firm muscle. He had the same blue eyes as Mrs. Wilson, but his thinning hair was more of a platinum blonde. He stared at his wife's corpse in dull shock.

"I told Rebecca her friend Bonnie is here," he said. "She texted back that she doesn't know any Bonnie." His large body began to quake and tears built in his eyes. "You killed her…"

Bonnie stepped over the body. "It had to be done."

Mr. Wilson looked up at Bonnie and was taken aback at her frightening appearance. "I never thought I'd ever see a witch possessed ever again," he whispered into the stagnating air. Then he was suddenly angry. "But at least I know how to kill one!"

Bonnie almost started to chuckle but promptly started choking. She grabbed her throat, willing it to open back up but it stayed closed. She fell to her knees and Mr. Wilson strode over to her.

"For my wife," he said.

Bonnie's vision started to blur and she could feel her life fading. The other side beckoned her to come back, but she resisted. She clenched her father's pocket watch underneath her shirt.

Mr. Wilson grabbed her by the hair on top of her head. "A weak willed witch only suffers one fate."

Bonnie's hand shot out and gripped the side of Mr. Wilson's neck. "I've already suffered that fate once," she choked out. With every word she said, it be came easier to speak and breathe.

Her vision cleared as soon as Mr. Wilson started screaming. She rose to her feet as he fell to his knees, burning on the inside. Bonnie consumed him completely and he too dropped to the floor dead. Her body shook nearly uncontrollably as she calmed the magic she had just absorbed. She looked up at the television screen and saw the Animal Plant show "Too Cute!" showcasing bunnies.

"How adorable," she said to the empty house. She stood watching for half a minute the summoned the grimoires; she was greeted by a heavy box. "Perfect."

She turned on her heel and left.


	18. Chapter 18

She walked through the doors of the suite, dropped the box of grimoires on the floor, and went to sit with Damon on the couch. He looked paler than usual and had an edge to his aura.

"What's wrong with you?" Bonnie asked him. When she dropped down next to him, incredibly close as usual, he leaned away for the first time. It actually offended her.

"I'm hungry."

"Why didn't you just go find someone to compel or a hospital to take from?"

"I didn't know if I'd make it without killing anyone," he said.

"You're that hungry? Why?"

"I don't know. I started feeling shitty all of a sudden. See this is why I hate flying. You can compel some workers to get some blood bags through but not all of them."

She put out her wrist without thinking. "Here."

He looked at her arm as if it were a foreign object. Even if he had the tiniest hope that she would let him taste, he didn't think it would actually happen. "Are you sure?" he asked. His mouth was already starting to water.

"Did you figure out your shit?"

"Yeah…"

She cocked her head to the side. "Then its fine…right?"

They looked at each other the whole time. Bonnie watched as Damon's eyes turned to red and veins popped out underneath his eyes. She felt his breath on her wrist, her fingers twitched, and then he was biting into it.

He gently sucked at the piercing, marveling at the way she tasted; it was like spiced rum heavily diluted by the coppery taste of blood, but still burned going down his throat. He detached his mouth and licked the driblets left behind to reveal the holes had closed.

"Its easy if the wound is small," she explained quietly. "Are you still hungry?"

At Damon's nod she started to gather her hair to one side with her free hand. She squeaked when he pulled her arm and dragged her into his lap. Her heart beat loudly as she settled into the straddle; she wasn't scared, she was excited. His hand slid down her arm to her shoulder to her neck, holding her hair to the right; his other hand stayed on her waist.

She rested her hands on his shoulders, leaned her head to the right, and waited. She felt his tongue lick the thumping pulse in her neck and shivered. Then he bit into her again. The blood flowed easily and plenty. Damon pulled her against him more fully as he drank, and her eyes fluttered shut at the feeling.

She didn't know how to describe it; it was different than when she was bleeding out in Silas's prison. But with every swallow that Damon took she could feel him getting warmer. She could feel him getting stronger and she could feel it in herself.

He finished and placed open-mouthed kisses on the spot, picking up any leftover blood. He leaned back against the couch and gazed at Bonnie, mouth slightly hanging open. He could barely believe that this was reality he was experiencing. His fingers tightened around the back of her neck and he brought her face to his.

She could still taste her blood on his lips, on his tongue, and in his mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair and sighed into him. They broke apart and rested their foreheads together, just taking in one another's presence.

Old Bonnie threatened to take over and that was when Bonnie realized what was happening and what it all meant. She loved him. She loved Damon. But she couldn't be with him while she was on a mission to kill Silas and attacking unknowing witches to get it done.

Half of the time she didn't know if it was even about Silas anymore. She couldn't imagine how Damon would react if he found out, but she knew everything would change.

She tried not to cry, but one tear was able to escape her closed lids. She quickly wiped it away and started to get up.

"What' wrong?" Damon asked, grabbing her arm and pulling her back onto the couch before she could go to her room.

She shook her head. "I'm just tired."

"Sorry."

A small smile graced her lips before she pressed them against Damon's again. "Its fine. I'm fine," she murmured against them. "I just want to sleep now."

He nodded and expected her to go to her room, but she pulled him down with her to lie on the couch. She snuggled into him as he wrapped his arm around her. He listened to her steady heartbeat and her breaths that evened out.

He really didn't want to get on that plane tomorrow. Not because he hated flying, but because he didn't want to go back to Mystic Falls where quiet moments like this one never seemed to happen.

Every now and then Damon would take a walk throughout the town, just thinking about the current going ons of his life; today he was thinking about Bonnie. Nowadays, whenever he thought of her, a stupid smile would appear on his face. It was like he was in grade school again, and it was disgusting.

But he couldn't stop the string of fuzzy feelings and pleasant thoughts that Bonnie caused when he wasn't around her. And when they were together he found himself listening too intently or staring too long and too hard. Sometimes she would catch him, but she would just smile at him and tuck some hair behind her ear- it was always the left ear with her right hand.

He'd been noticing things about her like the restless tapping of her foot or fingers, how she drank way more than usual, or how if Silas was brought up she always got this wild look in her eyes. He attributed all of these things to a need for revenge. Hell, he'd seen plenty of that in himself, but Bonnie was level-headed and sensible so he tried not to worry.

He'd also began to notice other stuff. She really liked bagels with smoked salmon for breakfast, crime TV shows were her favorite, and she liked eating Nutella with a fork which made absolutely no fucking sense; the list went on and on with the things he had learnt about her since he had managed to find a way to bring her back. Maybe they had been spending too much time together, but deep down Damon never thought it was enough.

He was walking past an alley chronicling the amount of lace panties he had seen- either on her or in her possession- when he was yanked into an alley. Most of the buildings were old and had a staircase leading from the backdoor of the building; he fell down the steps and landed at the bottom with a groan.

He opened his eyes to see a blonde woman with blue eyes standing above him. A generic beauty he used to easily charm into bed.

In a split second he felt the vessels in his brain popping like balloons. He bit back the scream that was trying to erupt from his lips.

"I'm looking for a witch," the woman said.

"I think I found one," Damon griped. He backwards crawled away from her but hit an invisible wall.

"She's black with black hair."

Damon gave Bonnie the benefit of the doubt. This woman could be talking about anyone: Sheila, Abby, or some other witch that had yet to reveal themselves. "Real helpful description."

He curled into himself when he felt a rib break.

"She has green eyes. Her name is Bonnie."

"Never heard of her."

He grunted when another rib broke.

"Don't lie to me. I felt you with her."

"What the hell are you talking about? Who the hell are you?" Damon demanded.

She came to kneel by him. "My name is Rebecca Wilson. My mother was Vanessa and my father was Luke. Do you know where they are now?"

"Probably running away from their psycho daughter," Damon said wryly. He didn't know what this bitch wanted, but there was no way in hell that she was getting away with this, or getting to Bonnie.

"No. They're dead."

Damon could feel his broken bones resetting. "Gee I'm real sorry about that, lady. Don't see how that had anything to do with me. Or how it warrants an attack."

"It has to do with Bonnie. Now tell me where she is!" She smashed her fist into the concrete floor near Damon's leg, forming a deep indent.

He squared his shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. "I don't know who the fuck that is."

Rebecca glared at Damon for a second then swiveled away to pace the alley. Damon watched apprehensively. She stopped abruptly and regarded Damon coolly.

"A few days ago, this witch Bonnie came to my house in Alabama. She had said she was a friend of mine, but I had never heard of her. She killed my parents. I got back home just in time to hear my father die. I could smell burnt flesh and hair all the way in the kitchen. I can still smell it now…its like it's permanently sealed into my nostrils."

She walked back to Damon and leaned dangerously close. Maybe it would have fazed Damon if he weren't constantly pulling that trick with others.

"I never saw her in person, but I was able to reconstruct her face with the residual magic she left behind. And before she left I stuck a spell on her: anyone or anything she touched would be traceable to me. Lucky for me she touched you."

They more than touched the night she got back from the house. "Its just a coincidence."

"My parents taught me not to believe in coincidences."

"Uh-huh. Right," Damon said, bored of their interaction.

"You're not going to tell me where she is, are you?" Rebecca asked.

Damon shrugged languidly. "I still don't know who you're talking about."

"You're a filthy fucking liar," she snarled. She stood up. "And a useless bastard."

She swung her arm in a wide arc; Damon's neck snapped to the side and he tipped over lifelessly to the floor.

* * *

Bonnie woke up on the floor of her living room. She quickly sat up and touched her finger to just below her nose; there was no blood. What had just happened? The ingredients to the spell she was working on still sat in a bowl in front of her, and one of the grimoires she had recently acquired was open on the floor.

She had been mid-chant when she had blacked out- just dropped right in the middle of the spell. She panicked when she assumed she was struggling with spells that required too much power again.

_I've consumed so much power…I've become so much stronger than before…how could this be happening again?_

Angry tears built up in her eyes but she forced them away. She clutched her father's pocket watch and stared angrily at the book. The Wilson's had died as easily as everyone else…and yet a spell from the grimoire had been too much for her?

She slammed the book shut and headed for the door, desperate to talk to the one person who had seen her tremendous growth and understand what it meant that she seemed to be regressing into helpless, weak Bonnie.

She walked into The Grille and headed straight for Damon at the bar. She nodded at Jeremy as he carried a tray of food to a table. Damon sat on a stool hunched over his drink. She slid onto the seat next to him.

"Something happened," she said to him.

He threw back his drink. "Tell me about it."

"What?"

"Some witch named Rebecca attacked me. Going on about her dead parents."

Bonnie stiffened at the name. Rebecca hadn't been home at the time. How could she have known that it was Bonnie? Matt came around as the bartender since most people didn't start drinking at 4 in the afternoon.

"Hey Bon. Starting early today?"

"It's been a hell of a day, Matt. Do you mind leaving the bottle of Jack? And the bourbon for Damon."

"You gonna pay for it?"

"Put it on my tab."

He gave Bonnie a look.

"Look even if you don't leave it I'll just float it on over after you've left," she said.

"I think you've been hanging out with Damon too long…" he muttered, but he left the bottles with them and went to go take care of other customers.

Bonnie poured herself a shot and drank it then poured herself another and drank it again. She filled Damon's glass with bourbon.

"She said she was from Alabama. And I thought to myself 'wow what a coincidence'. But is it? Is it just a coincidence Bonnie?" He looked at her and Bonnie took another shot. "What's going on, Bonnie?"

The only thing she could do was lie, but would he buy it? Would he keep asking questions? Would he investigate further? She looked him in the eyes. "Nothing is going on."

"My sore neck begs to differ…that witch killed me."

Bonnie sat straight up. "When?"

"An hour and a half back, maybe. She was already gone when I came to."

Bonnie's mind raced. An hour and a half ago? That was when she passed out to what she assumed was overuse of magic. Rebecca wasn't a coincidence, and this couldn't be either. Had she performed some sort of spell before she killed Damon?

"What does it mean?"

"What does what mean?"

Both heads whipped around at the sound of Stefan's voice. But it wasn't Stefan.

"Silas!" Bonnie hissed quietly.

He stood by Bonnie, leaning against the bar. Anyone not really paying attention wouldn't be able to tell that it was Silas; he wore an outfit Stefan would wear, but there was an arrogance about him that his doppleganger didn't share.

"What's happening, guys?"

The smirk plastered on his face was sending Bonnie in a wild rage. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here."

"I figured a public place would thwart violence. Too many…lives that don't need to be ended at this point in time."

"What do you want?" Damon asked, glaring at Silas.

"I have a proposition for you, Bonnie. You see…I kind of need my powers back. What's a witch who can't cast any spells? Well, you would know, right?" He chuckled. "Help me, and I'll leave and never come back.

The offer was complete bullshit though that wasn't why Bonnie never considered it. She poured herself another shot. "You thought you'd be safe here?"

Behind them, Caroline walked into the restaurant. She started talking to Matt. Numerous families and friends were enjoying each other's company; none of them knew that there was a whole world of terror right underneath their noses. They had legs and if they didn't others had arms to carry them out. Bonnie finished the shot and gripped the bottle tightly. She looked at Silas. "You were wrong."

She threw the bottle at Silas and it shattered, immediately bursting into flames. They cleared and Silas stood unharmed. Rebecca stepped out from behind a corner.

"Bonnie meet Rebecca. She was looking for you all over town asking people if they knew you when I bumped into her. She told me her story- apparently you've been very busy."

Bonnie stood up from the stool. "Leave now or you will regret it."

"You killed my parents, bitch. Now you'll die!" She threw her hand out and had everything around Bonnie, including Damon, flying backwards but Bonnie was unmoved.

"At least you can't attend your own funeral," Bonnie uttered.

The bottles against the bar wall blew up and flames rose from the broken glass. They licked at Silas's arm and he brushed them off. He stepped backwards away from the line of fire. The blaze roared at Rebecca, but didn't mar her. The customers finally took notice and ran screaming.

The entire restaurant started to shake. Stools, tables, and chairs started to whizz around the building at Bonnie's beckoning. A pool stick flew at Caroline's back as she, Matt, and Jeremy ushered innocent civilians out of The Grille.

"Caroline!" Matt shouted.

Caroline spun around right as a hand grabbed the piece of wood that was about to impale the blonde vampire right through the heart. She gasped and looked up at Damon.

He threw the pool stick away. "Get Matt and Jeremy out of here."

Caroline looked past him and saw Bonnie in the background battling Rebecca with Silas lurking somewhere behind. The black veins had come out.

"Oh my God, Bonnie!"

"_Now, Caroline!_" Damon barked.

She jumped and nodded her head. She quickly grabbed Matt and Jeremy by the arms and trailed after the last people fleeing from the restaurant. Damon turned back around to the fight. His stomach dropped at Bonnie's appearance.

Bonnie sent a wave of broken glass at the two. Rebecca deflected it from her and Silas and sent it back to Bonnie. A black hole formed in front of Bonnie and swallowed the shards. Rebecca took a step back at Bonnie's powers.

"I know your parents. They were cute. Their magic felt the same…I didn't know that could happen. I guess its possible when you're soul mates."

Tears filled Rebecca's eyes. "Stop…" she begged.

"Take solace in the fact that they're still together. Their souls are entwined inside of me."

The black hole disappeared and reformed near the ceiling, making the roof crumble into it. Storm clouds moved into the sky above them.

"I'll make sure you meet them again," Bonnie said.

Lightning shot down into The Grille. Rebecca screamed when a bolt struck her; it was like a homing beacon for the other strikes that hit Rebecca one after the other. Six strikes and Rebecca's charred body flew back from its spot and landed ten feet away. Bonnie vanished and appeared above Rebecca's body, dropping a couple feet to the floor onto her knees.

She wrapped her hands around her neck; there was still a faint beat from the artery in Rebecca's neck. Bonnie let a jumble of magic pulse out of her body and into Rebecca; she inhaled harshly as the burnt skin reversed into a bright red. Bonnie's grip tightened. Rebecca coughed and looked into Bonnie's black eyes.

"I wanted you to be conscious for this. You made a mistake attacking Damon and joining Silas."

Rebecca tried to push her off of her with her hands and magic, but Bonnie felt like she weighed a ton.

"You feel just like your parents," Bonnie said. She looked inquisitive for a moment and she tilted her head to the side. "I wonder if my mother and grandmother felt like me."

"P-please…" Rebecca croaked.

Bonnie broke out of her thoughts. "Never beg for your life, Rebecca. It never works."

Rebecca screeched as Bonnie ripped out her soul and sucked it into her body. Fire erupted from her eyes and mouth, and a second later her whole entire body was engulfed in flames. Rebecca turned to ash in Bonnie's hands and blew away in the wind.

"What now, Silas? Your sword is gone."

"But I still have a shield."

Bonnie looked up to see Silas with Damon in a chokehold, holding a sharp piece of wood right above his heart; Damon cooperated and held still. Bonnie slowly got to her feet. Everything that she saw was just a shade of black.

"You think that'll stop me?" She took a step forward.

Damon couldn't tell if she was bluffing. Silas's threat stuttered at Bonnie's nonchalance. He grappled for a reason to keep Bonnie away. "He brought you back from the other side, didn't he? Don't you know that has consequences?"

Bonnie took another step forward and had Silas staggering back.

"Haven't you noticed anything strange?"

Bonnie slid to a halt.

"You have, haven't you?"

Bonnie said nothing.

"A spell that brought you back, Bonnie…there's only one way a witch in your group's repertoire would use without dark magic or getting themselves killed. A connection of souls. You live as he lives, you die as he dies."

Bonnie tried not to believe what Silas was saying, but it would explain what had happened earlier that day. Silas backed away to the door of The Grille. Bonnie could only watch as Silas escaped.

"Until next time, Bonnie. I hope to see you again real soon."

"You prick," Damon ground out.

Silas reached the door and finally let go of Damon. Bonnie yanked Damon away from Silas with magic and tried to reach Silas before he escaped, but it was too late and he was out the door and blending into the crowd. Damon reached out and touched Bonnie's shoulders. She whipped around, surprised at the contact.

"What's happening to you…?" Damon whispered.

"Did you know about this? About the soul link?" Bonnie screamed.

"Of course not! Sophia didn't say anything about it!"

Bonnie moved to leave.

"Bonnie, wait!" He tried to grab her but she swiped her arm away.

"DON'T touch me!" She repelled Damon back. The building began to shake and crumble. Bonnie clutched at her head and hurried out of the door before she was caught in the wreckage.

* * *

**The jig is up!**

**I honestly didn't know if I'd ever get to this moment LOL.**

**Bonnie vs Revecca *mortal kombat voice* brutality.**

**If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a great one. If not, I hope whatever you do during the end of December was amazing. I've been way busier than I anticipated. **

**What will the gang do about Bonnie? What is she willing to do to continue going around killing witches and stealing their power? **

**Thanks for reading! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo**


	19. Chapter 19

**Ooooh my readers are so wonderful; glad you all enjoyed the last update so much.**

**There's French in this chapter so scroll too the bottom for my intended translations!**

* * *

Caroline sped back to The Grille as soon as she got Jeremy and Matt back to the Salvatore boarding house. By the time she reached what used to be the restaurant, the sky had darkened with rain and she could hear sirens on the way to the scene. She pushed through the crowd, trying to hear if Damon was still around and underneath the rubble.

A low groan far from the mass of people reached her ears. She hurried over and started throwing large pieces of wood and brick to the side. A hand wiggled out and began pushing pieces away with her. They managed to push off all the heavy pieces, and Caroline helped Damon rush out.

They stopped at a bench behind a building a few blocks away from the wreckage. He dropped onto the seat and rested his elbows on his knees. Caroline came around the back of the bench to stand behind Damon.

"There's a piece of wood in you shoulder," Caroline said. She gripped it. "I'm going to pull it out."

She didn't give any other warning before she jacked it out of his shoulder. He grunted in pain and clenched his fists to keep from crying out. Caroline flung the wood away and went to stand in front of Damon.

She pushed her wet hair out of her face. "What the hell is going on, Damon? Where's Bonnie?"

He readopted the habit of pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't know."

"Did you see her? Did you see her face? Oh my God, did you see her eyes?"

"Yes, Caroline." She was asking too many fucking questions and Damon was still reeling from what happened at The Grille.

"What happened to Silas? What happened to that woman?"

Damon's throat dried out. The rain pelted their bodies. Bonnie murdered that girl. She burned her to ash. He'd seen it with his own eyes and he could barely believe it.

"I have to find her," Damon finally said. He stood up from the bench.

"Where?"

There were only two places that he could think of; he decided on the first. "Her house."

He ran there with vampire speed. The Lincoln was in the driveway, doors open and full of boxes and suitcases. Bonnie walked out of the house carrying a duffel bag; she locked the door to her house and turned to see Damon. She stopped right before the stairs then continued to her car without saying anything. An invisible force field shielded her from the rain.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked.

She didn't answer him. She just threw her bag into the car and began to shut all the doors; when she got to the front and climbed inside, Damon grabbed the door and held it open. Bonnie glared up at him.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked her again.

"I'm going away."

"Why?"

"To find a way to break the spell," she said.

"Is that the only reason?"

She lifted her chin in defiance. "Do you remember the masquerade when Elena was still human? You made a plan to kill Katherine, but she linked herself to Elena; if Katherine died, so would she."

Damon remembered it very clearly. It was one of the most infuriating moments he had ever experienced. To have something he wanted so close, but having an obstacle in the way of it…sort of like right now. But he had no idea what was keeping him from Bonnie. He had no idea what she had become, or why or when or how.

"A life bond, Damon, but a little more complex. Its tied to the souls instead of the body. Unnoticeable until one of us kicks it," she continued. "If you die, I die. If I die, you die."

"How is that a bad thing if that's all it is? You can be immortal."

"Because I can't have my life controlled by other people!" she yelled. Lightning flashed across the sky at Bonnie's anger. She took a deep breath. "I will break it."

She tried to yank the door out of Damon's hand, but he held fast. "Is that the only reason you're leaving? Not going to go find more witches to cremate?"

Bonnie stepped out of the car and leaned against it. "And if I was? Do you think you could stop me?"

_No, no, no._ Damon closed the space between them. He grasped her shoulders then cupped her face with both hands. "Don't do this. This isn't you."

His touch along with the sincerity in his eyes had her wavering. Damon was the only one capable of making the morality of her old self come back out. She wouldn't let it win. She wouldn't let him take the potential power and vengeance away from her.

"I told you on the plane, Damon. I couldn't come back as the same person I used to be. I needed to be stronger."

"Why are you doing this?"

"To _be _stronger. So I can be the witch I was meant to be and end Silas. So I can live."

"Bonnie-"

She cut him off by literally shutting his mouth and freezing his entire body. She reached up and pulled his hands away from her face.

"I will find a way to kill Silas. And I will take the power I need to do it," she said. She pushed him back several steps. "Don't bother trying to follow me."

She got back into the car and gave him one last look. She started the engine and drove away leaving Damon standing alone in the rain.

Damon felt his muscles relax from Bonnie's magic, but he stood in her driveway for a few more moments. He scrubbed his face with his hands, unsure of how to sort out the feelings inside of him. After a while, he decided to just go home.

Everyone was waiting in the living room when he entered the house, tracking water all over the floor. They looked up at him expectantly. Now, more so than ever, Damon wished he never came back to Mystic Falls. He didn't want to have to deal with constant death threats, constant disappointment, and people constantly looking to him for answers and leadership.

"Did you find Bonnie?" Caroline asked.

He nodded silently and moved toward the fire.

"Where is she?" That was Jeremy.

"She's gone," Damon informed them. He turned his back to them and stuck out his arm to lean against the fireplace. A silence filled the room.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Matt asked. "Where'd she go?"

Damon felt the last of his patience dwindle away. "I don't know. She just left. She's just gone!"

The crew took in the news and Damon continued to stand at the fireplace.

"What do we do now?" Caroline asked.

Again with the pinching of the nose. He didn't know how to solve this problem. He didn't even know how to start. He just wanted this day to end, or better yet, he wanted to forget it. Thankfully, Stefan stepped up to brainstorm.

"Maybe we should call Sophia? See if she knows what's happening to Bonnie?" he suggested.

"That's a good idea, Stefan," Elena said.

Damon wished he were bashing his head against a wall. He pulled out his phone and called Sophia's house phone. It rang several times, but there was no answer.

* * *

Bonnie managed to teleport the car less than a fourth of the way to Sophia's. The rain had followed her there. She sped up the path to Sophia's house and parked where Sophia usually had her Mustang. She exited the car, disappeared, and reappeared on Sophia's porch. She knocked on the door.

The door creaked open, but Sophia was nowhere to be seen. Bonnie pushed it open wider and stepped through, calling out to Sophia.

"In the sitting room dear," she called to Bonnie.

Bonnie turned to the left and entered the sitting room. Sophia was lying sideways on the floor in front of four potted plants. With a wave of her hand the plants overgrew out of their containers.

"Its nice to see you, Bonnie."

"Its nice to see you too," Bonnie said. She went to sit on one of the large pillows decorating the room.

"How is Damon?" Sophia asked, giving her a pointed look.

"He's…good," she answered. Sophia chuckled to herself. "That's actually why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"When you brought me back you connected our souls, but never broke the link."

Sophia stopped playing with the plants and smacked her forehead with her palm. "Oh, non! J'ai complètement oublié!"

"Its fine. I just need to know how to break it."

"I can do that for you. We just need to go back to Mystic Falls and have you two exchange some blood."

"No, that's really not necessary. If you could just tell me how to break it, I'll do it."

Sophia sat up on her elbow and looked at her suspiciously. "What are you really here for, Bonnie?"

In the time that they had been apart, Bonnie had forgotten how intuitive Sophia was. She sighed and dropped the act. "Okay, you caught me. I'm not here to only break the link. I'm here for your grimoires and the rest of the books."

Sophia's eyebrows rose. "For what?"

"For Silas."

"I told you I wanted nothing to do with your mission to defeat Silas," she replied.

"Yeah, yeah, every witch for themselves. But we don't have that option. Not with Silas."

Sophia stood up and brushed off her dress. The phone started to ring in a different room. "You know that I cannot let you have anything from my collection."

Bonnie followed Sophia's lead and got to her feet. "I'm not asking."

The pots the plants were housed in burst, and the plants withered and browned. The pillows split open and the stuffing spilled out. Sophia watched with a hand on her hip as Bonnie turned into her dark persona.

"I'll give you one last chance, Sophia, because I like you. I thought you could be a mentor to me, but I won't let anyone get in my way."

Sophia sniggered from her spot across from Bonnie, angering her. Was she underestimating her abilities? Bonnie wasn't the same witch that

Sophia had met when they came to ask for her help. She hurtled over to Sophia; Sophia lazily waved her wrist and sent Bonnie flying into the hallway. She crashed into a wall and fell to the floor. Sophia ambled out after Bonnie.

"Oh, Bonnie. J'ai cru en vous. I did not think that you would succumb to it so easily."

Bonnie got to her feet once again. She glared at Sophia, her black eyes shining. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you were stronger than this…"

Bonnie bared her teeth as if she were an animal. "I _am _strong. And with your magic I'll be even stronger!" She lunged at Sophia again.

She managed to get close enough to grab her, but her hand phased through the older witch's arm. Bonnie blinked confusedly, then Sophia sent her to her knees, screaming in intense pain. She clenched her eyes shut at the rattling in her brain.

"I have not been home for a very long time, Bonnie, and I'm glad I was not here in the flesh." The front door slammed open. "You will never be able to come back here. Goodbye, Bonnie."

Bonnie felt the wind all around her as Sophia flung outside of her house. The pain faded away and she teleported herself to her car. She looked up at the Victorian home; powerful, purple winds circulated around the entire property, protecting it from unwanted guests.

Bonnie gritted her teeth. Sophia would have been a great addition, but she could do without her. There were plenty of other witches out there for the taking.

* * *

Damon sipped at his drink; he had noticed Bonnie drinking more than usual, but he was going through bottles daily now. All he did was fucking drink.

He thought back to how much Bonnie had changed and her appearance at The Grille. It was like she was a possessed character in those corny demon exorcism movies. But was that even possible? Were there such things as demons? Biblical monsters was where Damon drew the line.

His thoughts shifted to the conversation they had earlier in the night. He thought that he was the reason for her current homicidal nature before he caught her making a quick escape. After being with Elena and making her less than who she was, it wasn't an unreasonable assumption to make.

Bonnie was a completely different person now. She was killing innocent people-she hadn't even wanted to mess with Mason and Luke! All the time they spent together…was she ever really her? Or had she been a crazier, more intense version of Maleficent the whole time?

Damon put his drink down for he was no longer in the mood to drink. He should have seen this coming…maybe not exactly this but _something_. Her eyes had been doing weird shit since the moment they got back from the other side. Why had he decided to ignore it?

Because suddenly she had declared them friends and they grew closer than he ever thought was possible? Because her skin was flawless, her ass was perfect, and her lips were soft? Because she made him feel like everything that had happened to him was trivial and he was the happiest he had ever been in a very, _very_ long time? It was easy being with her. It was harmless. It was untainted.

Or so he had thought. He should have realized that there was a catch to them; their relationship would have never changed if she didn't come back as a killer. A killer like him. He dropped his head into his hands.

She had been changing him. Did she know that? Was that part of her agenda? Getting underneath his skin to keep him blinded to her destruction? How many times would he be fooled by the women in his life? How many times would he get…hurt?

He heard someone enter the room and looked up; Caroline lingered close the hallway.

"Hey," she said. Her awkwardness was clear by the way she was twisting her fingers. "I just wanted to say thanks for saving my life tonight at The Grille."

Damon responded by picking up his previously abandoned drink. Caroline dropped her hands heavily; they bounced off her thighs. "Well…that's all I wanted to say." She turned to leave.

"You didn't have to come back for me. You shouldn't have. It'd make sense if you didn't. After what I did to you," he said to her.

Caroline turned back around but stayed at the same spot. She looked at Damon as if he missed out on something everyone else knew. "We may not be friends, Damon, but you are important to people I care about: Elena, Stefan, and for some reason Bonnie. Maybe even Jeremy. I did it for them."

He sighed and internally groaned at what he was about to say next. "You may be vain and neurotic but you're not vapid or stupid or weak or whatever the hell else I called you. You didn't deserve that…or any of it."

Caroline's brow furrowed in confusion. "I was a different person back then. But you're right. I didn't deserve it. There's a lot of that that goes around in Mystic Falls."

She started to leave the room again and looked at Damon as she walked away. "And if you think that sorry excuse for an apology is going to make up for everything you're seriously mistaken."

Damon listened to her leave the house. Leave it to her to demand more from him. He tapped the glass with his finger and then downed the rest of it. She was clearly a better person than him. Guess that's why she was friends with Bonnie.

* * *

**J'ai complètement oublié!- I completely forgot**

**J'ai cru en vous.- I believed in you. **

**Bonnie has gone off to go kill a bunch of innocent witches and Damon is stuck in his feels. Sophia is my goddess; she obvs knows what's going on but she's too far away to do anything about it. Who is going to stop Bonnie?**

**Until next chapter, folks xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks for sharing my story on tumblr! And anyone else who has spread it around. And everyone who continues to read!**

* * *

Six weeks later and still no word from Bonnie; Damon could only imagine the body count she had procured. The others still had no idea that she was actually going around killing people and Damon was in no rush to change that.

But he was worried. Very worried. Sometimes he'd feel his life fading away but it'd stop a few moments right before the end. Who was she going toe to toe with? She defeated every viable foe, though, so that had to mean something.

All the people Bonnie left behind in Mystic Falls could only wait for her to contact them or to come back.

Sophia was not answering her phone and none of them knew any other witches to ask for help. So they tried to go about their daily lives: Caroline went to classes, Elena did courses online and stuck around Stefan, Stefan regained his sanity, Jeremy and Matt were helping rebuild The Grille and had online school, and Damon…he never really had much to do.

Sometimes he'd go to council meetings- which were now more boring than ever since the last incident happened at the Grille and there were no known causalities-, or he bothered Liz, or he was drinking. Soon he'd end up in rehab for alcoholism.

Anyways, no matter what he was doing Bonnie was always on his mind. He missed her. He hated missing people, but he missed her- er, fake her. How fucking lame.

One day he was trying to figure out what extracurricular activities he should invest in (that shit one where you build miniature boats in bottles was currently at the top of the list) when someone texted him from an unknown number. "Salt Lake City, Utah." was all the text read.

_The Lord giveth,_ he thought as he read it over again. _Or shady friends in low places._

He strolled onto the veranda where Stefan and Elena were lounging on the patio sofa reading their respective books; Stefan read _Midnight's Children_ by Salman Rushdie and Elena read _A Theory of Justice_ by John Rawls for her philosophy class.

"Got a lead," Damon announced as he headed towards them. He dropped onto an arm of a chair opposite of them.

Elena closed her book and sat up, giving Damon her full attention. "Where?"

He waggled his phone at her. "Utah. Salt Lake City. Maybe she was in the mood to ski?"

"Very funny, Damon. Are you going to go find her?" Stefan asked.

He nodded, already checking available flights on his phone.

"Do you need someone to go with you?"

Damon scoffed. "I think I can handle Bonnie by myself." No, he probably couldn't. But he was the only one who knew what Bonnie was capable of right now. Who knew what'd she do when he got there, and at least he knew she wouldn't kill him because of the life bond. It'd be best if he went alone.

He left the next day, not bothering to take any bags. For all the whining he did when Bonnie purchased first class tickets, he traveled first class there. The plane ride was a lot less enjoyable without Bonnie, but he got to his destination safely. When the plane touched down and he turned on his phone he received another text. "Hilton Salt Lake City Center."

Perfect. Now he didn't have to search for her all over the place. Snowflakes floated down from grey skies. He barely noticed the looks he got on his way to the hotel, but once he got inside no one looked his way. He went to the front desk.

A tall, curly haired man with green eyes stood behind the desk. His nametag read Clayton. "How can I help you today, sir?"

Damon leaned against the counter. "Yeah I want a room."

The clerk started typing away at the computer. "Okay and what type of room would you like?"

"Something that comes with a girl who's around 5'2", has green eyes, long black hair, and goes by the name Bonnie Bennett."

The ticking slowed to a stop and Clayton looked up at Damon. "I'm sorry, sir, we don't have any guests under that name. I'll be happy to help you rent another room, though."

Damon put on a fake smile. "Do you mind checking for me? Its important."

"Right, well…will you excuse me for a moment? I'll be a right back."

Clayton went to the back and the fake smile fell off Damon's face. He waited at the desk, impatiently tapping at the granite. He looked around the hotel; guests came and went in lethargic dazes.

"That's weird..."

"Sir."

Damon twisted around to see two huge men wearing black suits; they were both at least 6'3" and twice Damon's weight. One was white with red hair, the other was a bald Asian. "You're going to need to come with us."

He went with them willingly. Obviously these men were working for Bonnie. The two men escorted him to a small, empty room at the back of the hotel. They pushed him inside and entered after him, closing the door behind them. Damon turned to face them.

"There must be some sort of mistake."

"No mistake, sir."

"It will be if you don't let me go willingly."

"We can't do that."

Damon rolled his eyes and shrugged. "If this how you want to do it…." He flashed over to the Asian security guard and socked him in the face; his head went back and hit the wall, knocking him out instantaneously. The red haired security guard caught Damon between his beefy arms and lifted him off of the ground, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

Damon swung his leg back and kicked him in the groin. The guard cried out and dropped Damon, and was promptly kneed on the side of his head; he crashed into the floor, bleeding and motionless.

Damon looked over his handiwork and repositioned his jacket. There was no need to kill them this time. He patted them down to search for anything useful and pulled out the hotel pamphlet that held a guest's keycard to their room. The number 703 was scribbled inside. He pulled out the keycard and exited the room.

He took the stairs to the room. He opened the door to the hallway and checked for any more men that would try to apprehend him; there were none. He quickly went to room 703 and opened the door with the keycard.

The suite was massive; it was 2,245 feet with a dining room and wet bar with full refrigerator. The living room held a decorative fireplace, 42-inch flat plasma TV, and a L-shaped sectional couch.

_This is what my bank account was able to dodge_.

He heard the shower running to the right of the suite. He crept further into the suite and entered the bedroom. Another L-shaped sectional couch was pushed under the window and a king sized bed was against the back wall. A large brown chest sat in front of the bed.

He crept up toward the bathroom door and froze midway. He tried to pull his foot off of the carpet, but it was stuck. He started screaming curse words in his head. It was definitely the right room.

The shower shut off and Damon could only wait until Bonnie left the bathroom. His body tensed. He could hear her moving around in the bathroom. He had no idea how this reunion was going to go but…

A weight had been crushing his chest since she left. He just needed to see her. Hear her voice. Feel her warmth. He almost didn't care about anything that happened after that.

The door finally opened and Bonnie stepped out in nothing but a towel. Damon let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. She looked exactly the same, except she had changed her hair; she had cut it into a shoulder length bob and instead of the usual straight hair it was naturally wavy due to the shower. She didn't seem surprised to see him.

"Damon. How nice to see you," she said.

"Wish I could say the same for you, Bennett. You're a hard girl to find. Isn't it dangerous for a young woman like yourself to travel alone?"

"I can handle myself, but I did make some friends."

"You mean Bert and Ernie? Don't you think they're a little too much?"

"You think so? Apparently they worked for a congressman. I saw them walk by and just had to have them. I'm planning on going back for the rest before I leave."

Damon hummed noncommittally. He noticed a bead of water travel from underneath her towel down her leg.

"What have you been up to anyways? Besides running away."

She started to circle around him, sticking close enough to graze him. She ignored his question and asked one of her own, "How'd you find me?"

"I'm very resourceful," he answered.

"I'm sure. What do you want?"

"To bring you back. I even got us first class tickets."

"I'm not going back, Damon."

"I'm not leaving unless you come with me."

"You will."

He sighed. "This side of you is very cute, but very tiresome."

She suddenly lashed out at him by clawing at his chest, creating four long tears in his black v-neck and drawing blood.

"Goddammit! Fuck!" Damon cried, but it was already healing. He glared at her. "Don't think I won't kill you, witch."

She laughed out loud at his empty threat. How many times had she heard him claim that she meant less than nothing to her, and yet he was always saving her life?

"Oh, Damon," she said in between giggles. She stopped in front of him and licked his blood off her fingers. "I can do bad so much worse than you."

"Wait, I'm confused. Does that mean your inherent judginess renders you incapable of being as cold hearted and merciless as I pride myself to be?"  
He felt dozens of blood vessels pop in his brain, sending him to his knees groaning and clutching his head.

"It means the morals I once held no longer restrict me from doing terrible things as cold hearted and merciless as you _used_ to be."  
"Worse than enslaving an entire hotel?" He looked up at her from his spot on the ground.

"They're not enslaved." She went to the chest and pulled out a bowl and a few jars then placed them on a drawer. She started taking dried plants out and placed them in the bowl. "Is that judgment I hear in your voice? Funny, coming from a man who used to own slaves."

He rubbed his healed chest. "This is one of those times I wish I could say not to blame me for the crimes my ancestors committed."

Bonnie finished whatever she was doing and went to stand in front of Damon again. "It wouldn't mean anything anyways."

"Come back to Mystic Falls, Bonnie," Damon said tiredly. He didn't want to say it again.

The corners of Bonnie's lips turned up. She slowly lifted her hand and flung Damon back onto the plushy mattress and covers, holding him there with her magic. She crawled on top, straddling him with her naked body. Damon's heart seemed to jump into his throat.

"Oh I'll come back to Mystic Falls…once I have what I need." She ripped open his shirt and ran a hand over his torso. "And then I'll kill Silas. But if any of you try and get in my way, I will end all of you. I'll kill Caroline, and Jeremy, and Elena, and Stefan." She placed kisses all over his neck in-between the names of her former friends.

"And I'll make you watch. I'll make you watch as I turn them into dust and send them to the other side." She sat up and rested her hands on his chest.

Damon fought hard to keep his composure; her threats were unsettling, but it was hard to ignore her heat that he had sorely missed.

"Get off of me," he demanded.

"Tell me you don't want me."

"I don't."

She laughed at him and kissed her way down from his chest to his happy trail. He shuddered when her tongue would touch his skin. "And after I've killed them all, I'll desiccate you to jerky and drop you in that wretched tomb you tried so hard to open when you thought Katherine was in there."

"You are so full of shit."

He could feel her smile as she licked in the middle of his abs and upwards until she gave him a love bite right above his heart. Then she kissed his lips and he couldn't help kissing her back. He snagged her lip with a fang and she sat up; she wiped the blood away with the back of her palm.

"I'm not going back to Mystic Falls with you. I'm not going back for as long as it takes."

"Fine. Let me go and I'll relay the message."

"You really think you could leave?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to?"

Bonnie surveyed him, but didn't get off. Damon felt the magic pinning his limbs down release.

"Then leave," she said, daring him to make his move.

Damon raised himself up on his elbows, staring into Bonnie's eyes. He should leave. He should really leave. Bonnie was adamant about staying behind. She was more powerful than ever before if a hotel full of mind-controlled zombies was any indication. Damon never had a plan if she said no, and he knew that would be her answer. So why had he come?

It was so obvious and Bonnie could see it. His heart started to hammer inside his chest the longer he looked into her green eyes. It had been a trap the whole time. She knew his weakness and was using it against him. She was toying with him. He definitely shouldn't have come. She was giving him a chance to leave…he should take it.

Instead he gave into his desires and roughly sealed their lips together. He held her to him like he wanted to crush and meld her into his body, trapping her arms between them. Bonnie reciprocated his ferocity, curling their tongues together in her mouth before slamming her teeth shut as if she wanted to bite his off; their teeth clashed every so often.

Damon grabbed a handful of wet hair and yanked her head back and to the left, exposing her neck. His fangs emerged and he sank them into her skin; she jerked at his rough entry but melted against him, letting her eyes close. Damon moaned as her spicy sweet blood filled his mouth-it tasted as good as the first time, better than any blood he ever had.

Just this once he wanted to drink it without restriction because he didn't know if he would ever be able to have it again. Whether she never came back or she returned to normal, he doubted he'd get another taste. It was spilling so much that it dripped down her back and stained the white towel bright red.

She started to feel light-headed and wiggled her arms free. "Damon," she mumbled, putting her hands on his shoulders. He slurped up the rest of her blood before she closed the punctures. "I know how to break it now."

Damon's entire body buzzed. "Break what?" he asked breathlessly.

Bonnie opened her eyes and they were completely black. "Our soul link."

She slammed him back into the mattress and held him there with her right hand on his chest. The bowl of ingredients she had pulled out earlier ignited, and she started to recite the spell. The black veins crawled from her hand to Damon's chest, wiggling and pulsing like parasitic worms. It felt like his chest was on fire or like he was having a heart attack; the pain had him screaming.

It took less than a minute for the spell to finish. Both Bonnie and Damon felt a tug deep inside of them, and a tie loosened; the link had broken. Damon panted as the pain subsided and looked back at Bonnie with clenched teeth. She patted his cheek affectionately.

"Goodbye, Damon."

She snapped his neck. She waited a few moments, but didn't die with him. His eyes were still open. She ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Even in death, his eyes were electric. She climbed off of his body, changed, and cleaned up her bowl. The two men that had taken Damon away entered the room and carried out her chest. She followed after them and never looked back.

* * *

Damon returned to Mystic Falls empty handed. He got back to the boarding house and went upstairs to check on Stefan. He didn't bother knocking on the door, and when he opened it he saw Elena cuddling in bed with him.  
Even though Damon wasn't surprised at the development and he had other people-other someone- on his mind, he couldn't help but feel bitterness at the situation. Seeing them together like this was the last thing he wanted to walk in on after his run in with Bonnie.

He went downstairs, grabbed a few bags of blood, and poured them into a glass. He felt comfortably blank.

Elena came downstairs 20 minutes later. She saw Damon sitting on the couch and hurried over to him. "Damon. How was it? Did you find bonnie?"

"Yeah I found her," he said. He finished off the blood.

"What happened?"

"She killed me."

"…What?"

"She had everyone in the hotel on alert to warn her if someone asking for her came around, I confronted her, she killed me."

Elena shook her head in disbelief. "But Bonnie would never…"

"She has tried to kill me before. And her time on the other side clearly…changed her." He still didn't tell her that she was killing innocent people.

"Bonnie…" Elena sniffled and wiped away a few tears. "What do we do?"

"I don't know. See if she comes up again?"

She didn't have any other ideas. They sat in silence for a few moments. Damon continued to slump against the couch, not really thinking anything until Elena spoke again.

"You saw us earlier, didn't you?"

Damon didn't understand for a few seconds but remembered going to Stefan's room when he got back. "Oh. Yeah."

"I can explain," she said.

"Listen, Elena, don't worry about it."

"But-"

"No. Really. It's not important. We have bigger problems." But he didn't feel like trying to deal with those problems either. He got up from the couch and grabbed a clean glass and a bottle of bourbon and went to his room.

* * *

**Bonnie's new haircut is like the bob KG had when she went blonde, but Bonnie's hair is still black.**

**Next chapter an old friend is visiting the boarding house. Something big might happen...maybe I'll make it extra long.**

**I start school next week D: But I won't let this story stay incomplete for years. I'll finish it by the end of summer 2k14 latest****.**

**Thanks for reading! Stay pretty and witty and bright! Until next time xoxoxoxo**


	21. Chapter 21

**Pooping out chapters like its my job. Happy New Year folks!**

* * *

The days had grown tedious in nature Damon had noticed, and it had occurred long before Bonnie had gone to the dark side. When he had been searching for Stefan that one summer, he at least had Alaric or Elena to distract him from the small town boredom that plagued him. Now he was just waiting for something to happen.

He missed the simpler days when he would terrorize and drink humans without any repercussions. He missed causing havoc. Why was Silas the only enemy in Mystic Falls right now? Where were the vampires and werewolves? He wanted to kill something. He was tired of feeling like a chump.

Stefan tried to keep him company, but he and Elena had become friends again and, obviously, he had never stopped loving her. Damon didn't think Elena had stopped loving Stefan either; Caroline had said as much to him. Honestly, apologizing to her was a lapse of judgment because now she talked to him more openly.

And she had told everyone about his apology so they talked to him more too. He just wanted to go back to when everyone was afraid of him and/or hated him. Maybe he would just pack up and leave. Move to an island like Bora Bora, drink from a coconut and lie around with beautiful women in string bikinis all day. He wondered what Bonnie looked like in a bikini…

And there she was invading the privacy of his own mind again. She was driving him crazy and she wasn't even around! The worst part was he heard two voices: her old self telling him he was a coward for running away from his problems, and the diabolical one telling him it was in his right to leave and to save her a spot on his hammock.

He was tired of thinking about Bonnie. He didn't want to chase after her anymore; he didn't want to devote his life looking for a woman again. He wanted to be done trying to save people who didn't want to be saved. He wanted to leave the heroics to Stefan; he was better at it anyways. Damon vowed to stop caring and do what he wanted to do. So he did.

He wasn't surprised at Stefan and Elena's reaction when they came into the boarding house one day and he was drinking from a tall, curly haired Latin basketball player who was on her way home from school; three of her friends danced around the living room in bras and panties with bite marks all over their bodies.

They walked in- shocked at the party- and Damon offered to share. The next moment Elena was screaming at Damon that what he was doing was wrong and throwing the girls' clothes at them. Stefan helped by compelling them to forget everything that had happened, that they had gotten a flat tire on the way home, and gave them a little bit of blood to heal their wounds.

Damon dropped onto the couch. "Good to know you two are back to being the morality police."

Elena glared at him and ushered the team members out. That was another thing- Elena was less skittish around him now. She had gone back to being the girl who had slapped him that one time he tried to kiss her and fiercely protected Caroline when she found out he was abusing her.

It was really annoying. She almost treated him like Jeremy- chastising him while she cleaned up his messes and trying to tell him what to do with his days. She never seemed to shut up.

She came back into the house and stood next to Stefan in the middle of the living room. "What's going on with you, Damon? You've been disappearing for days and then you come back with random woman to have loud sex-"

"Jealous?"

"And keep us up all night! We can't run to Matt every single day!"

"You gonna ground me, mom? Tell her I'm a growing boy, dad," he said to Stefan. He licked the rest of the blood off his lips. "You know one of them is still upstairs with Jeremy."

"WHAT? JEREMY!" Elena ran upstairs and barged into Jeremy's room. The two downstairs could hear her tell the girl that she needed to call her friends immediately.

Damon waggled his eyebrows at Stefan, who just shook his head. She raced back downstairs and out the door in a blur. She was back a minute later. "I got her to her friends and compelled her to forget she was ever her."

She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. "You can't keep doing this, Damon."

He put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "I'm just having a little fun."

"No, you're acting out. This is so classic you."

"Classic me? Oh, God is this a 'family' meeting?" he asked incredulously.

"This is about Bonnie, isn't it?"

Damon's face scrunched up dramatically. "Excuse me?"

"It is! It is about Bonnie. Its fine that you miss her, Damon, but none of this is going to bring her back."

"You're preaching to the wrong choir."

"She was my friend too! And I miss her so much. We all do. But this has to stop." She gave Stefan a pointed look and went back to Jeremy's room.

Damon and Stefan listened to the conversation upstairs: "What the hell were you thinking?"

"What, he just came upstairs and dropped her off! What was I supposed to do?"

"Its _Damon_, Jeremy, what did you think was happening?" The voices continued but Stefan had heard enough.

Stefan looked at Damon. "She's right, brother. Dial it down a bit."

"Don't start," Damon warned. He rubbed his temples.

"She doesn't know how much Bonnie means to you, but I do. She'll come back…its Bonnie."

Damon ran a hand over his face and checked to make sure Elena was still arguing with Jeremy. "She's killing people, Stefan."

"What?"

"The witches we got the grimoires from, the witch in The Grille, whoever she's finding right now. She is killing them in cold blood."

"That can't be right…"

Damon got up and stood a breath away from Stefan. "I saw her burn that girl who attacked us into _ash_. She had an entire hotel at her beck and call! Its not Bonnie."

"Why are you just telling me now? Does anyone else know?"

Damon shook his head and walked to the fireplace. "What would be the point? There's nothing we can do about it."

"Why is she killing them?"

"Because she's insane? How the hell should I know!"

"Okay," Stefan said. "Ok-"

There was a knock at the door. The brothers exchanged glances and went to answer the door. Lucy Bennett stood at the door in a heavy beige, wool coat; her breaths were white puffs in the frigid air. "What the hell did you guys do to my cousin?"

Damon looked at her with no recognition. "Who are you?"

"Damon that's Bonnie's cousin Lucy," Stefan said.

"I helped you take down Katherine once."

Oh, right. Damon remembered her. "Weren't you the reason we couldn't kill her, too?"

"I'm pretty sure I made up for that. Are you going to let me in or you're just gonna let me freeze my ass off out here?"

They moved out of her way and she stepped inside. Elena and Jeremy came down the stairs.

"Lucy," Elena greeted "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to figure out what happened to my cousin."

"You saw her?"

She nodded. "When I was in Memphis three days ago. Last time I saw her she was innocent. She was new, but she was powerful. She was good. But now…" she sighed and walked further into the house; the others could followed her.

Lucy dropped her large black purse onto the armchair and went straight for the booze. The others sat on the couch. "We both knew staying in this town would cause her trouble, I guess we just didn't know how much. Tell me what happened."

They retold the events that led up to Bonnie's transformation. She shook her head numerous times throughout the story. After they had finished, she told a story of her own.

"Me and some friends had been hearing whispers about witches mysteriously going missing or being found drained of their magic and killed. One night, Bonnie shows up at my friend's place; she didn't even realize I was there until I grabbed her arm. She told me to join her, or stay out of her way."

"She told us to stay out of her way too. Damon said her eyes were completely black, like she was possessed by a demon," Elena said.

Lucy poured herself another drink. "There's no such thing as demons. Some Bible thumpers just interpreted things incorrectly, as usual."

"If it's not a demon then what is it?" Jeremy asked.

"It all has to do with witches; that's where the seven deadly sins came from- they were created by witches: Antonia for gluttony, Ava for greed, Vita for wrath, Lucilla for pride, Miriam for envy, Tamar for lust, and Dinah for sloth."

"Where have I heard those names before?" Damon asked.

"Its witch history, maybe you read it somewhere. These seven witches were some of the most powerful of their time-I'm talking BC. They were trying to protect their families from corrupt leaders with their magic; they wouldn't help these officials use their powers for evil, so they were classified as evil and killed only after watching their families die.

But their powers were so strong that their energies continued to flow through both worlds, corrupting others and manipulating them to commit the crimes they were accused of doing based on a person's fears, needs, or desires. For regular humans it's a push in the wrong direction, but for witches…its all consuming, Its still them in there but the line between wrong and right have been erased."

She sighed. "Being on the other side…watching loved ones die over and over again and not being able to do anything about it…she must have unconsciously called to them. Greed and wrath must have latched onto her."

"How do you know its greed and wrath?"

"Think about what she's doing. She's not killing tbese witches for no reason- she's stealing their magic- that has to be greed. And she's fixated on destroying those who hurt her- that's wrath."

She finished her drink and waited for them to soak it all in.

"Wait a second…Damon did you know she was killing witches the entire time? Why didn't you tell anyone?" Elena questioned.

Damon sighed. "I literally just had this conversation with Stefan."

Elena tried to say something else but Lucy jumped in. "When was the last time you saw Bonnie?"

Damon retold his reunion with Bonnie in Salt Lake City. Lucy nodded contemplatively. "So she hasn't turned on any of you just yet."

"Well she did kill me that day," Damon said.

"But not a true death for a vampire. That means she's focusing on the most recent affront to her: Silas killing her dad in front of her."

She started walking around the room. "Silas might be her current obsession right now, but if she succeeds in killing him, she's going to a find a new one. And I'll bet my life savings its one of you."

"Why would you think that?" Jeremy asked.

"Her mother was turned into a vampire to save Elena's life. More important than that was Sheila; she really meant a lot to Bonnie. And you just told me she died for you."

That only scratched the surface of Bonnie's fucked up life-they really didn't need any more explanation.

"How do we stop her? How do we get her back to the way she used to be?" Stefan asked.

"We have to purge the energy out of her body; we have to cleanse her system, but first we need to find her. I'll try a locator spell. Do any of you have anything of hers?"

Damon took Lucy to Bonnie's house to pick something up for the spell. The place was in shambles. Broken glass and ceramic pieces littered the floor and paintings were haphazardly hanging off walls with their canvases torn. The cabinets in the kitchen were wide open and their contents shattered on the floor.

Her room was even worse; her drawer had been used as firewood and her mattress was split open in the middle. There was a picture of the three girls on the floor with Elena and Caroline's faces burned out.

"That's not a good sign," Damon commented. They tried to look for something to use.

Lucy stopped rummaging and looked at Damon. "Why'd you go in for her Damon? The other side."

"I owed her one," he stated simply. He kicked over her plastic green trashcan and moved junk around with his foot.

"You could have been dead for good if you died in there. It was a huge risk and you're trying to tell me that it was all because you wanted to settle a debt?"

Damon stopped and looked at the window seat. "What are you implying?"

Lucy went back to searching for something useful. "Nothing your willing to admit apparently."

Damon scowled at Lucy's nosiness, but didn't say anything. Why was everyone always questioning him? He didn't even know this chick and yet she acted like she knew all his secrets. _Bennetts. I guess all of them are judgey and meddlesome_. He went into the bathroom and found her toothbrush.

"Will this work?" he asked Lucy.

She took the toothbrush and nodded her head. "Let's go."

They got back to the boarding house and Lucy set up the spell; she spread out a map on the coffee table.

"_Fes matos tribum nas ex viras, Sequitas saguines, Ementas asten mihan ega petous._"

The map burst into flames and completely burned away.

"Damn," Lucy said. "That's a powerful protection spell she has on her. She doesn't want to be found and she won't be. We have to wait for her to come to us."

"We've been doing that this whole time! You'll be an endangered species by the time she's finished."

"We may not be able to find her, but we can be ready for her when she gets back. That's the only option we have left."

* * *

_Bonnie awoke to the sound of running water; she opened her eyes and found herself in lush green forest. She laid on a bed of white daisies and pink camellias. The sky was bright blue with fluffy white clouds floating by. _

_A waterfall was a few feet away from her; she could feel the light spray of water when she stood from the patch of flowers. She brushed off her white spaghetti strap dress that went down to her knees and walked to the waterfall._

_ The soft grass underneath her bare feet tickled her toes. She stepped to the edge of the waterfall and kneeled to gather water in her cupped palms; she sipped the cool liquid and dipped her hands underwater for another taste. _

_ "Remember that time we went to the lake house and spent the weekend racing in the water and braiding flower crowns?" _

_ Bonnie looked up to see Elena sitting a few yards away from her; she was pulling out tufts of grass and throwing it into the pool of water. She was wearing a matching dress but it was in turquoise. Her hair was in a side French braid. _

_ Bonnie remembered that dress and that hair style- it was what she wore to their middle school promotion; they had bought matching dresses for the occasion and did the same braid but on opposite sides. Caroline had been so angry that they had coordinated outfits without her. She reached up and touched the left side of her head and sure enough there was a French braid._

_ "Those were good times." Elena stopped pulling out grass. "You probably shouldn't be drinking that."_

_Bonnie's brow furrowed and she looked down. The water suddenly turned to blood. She screamed and stood up from the bank and bumped into someone. She whirled around and met eyes with Silas._

"_Hope you still know how to swim," he said to her, smirking. _

_He pushed Bonnie hard. She stumbled away from him and fell into the pool. She rose back to the surface, gasping for air, covered in blood. A hand grabbed her leg and stopped her from swimming back to shore. Elena and Silas stood at the bank, watching her struggle to make it back._

_ Another hand grabbed her right shoulder and she turned to see her grandmother. She opened her mouth to scream but saw what was causing the water to turn to blood. Rudy floated in the water with his throat cut open and a never-ending flow of blood left his neck._

_ The sky blackened and the grass and flowers turned to mud. She screamed as Sheila held her tightly and dragged her down to the murky depths._

She woke up for real this time drenched in sweat. The sheets she had been snuggling in when she fell asleep were now tightly wrapped around her body, suffocating her. She pulled them off of her wildly and threw herself off the bed; she landed on her knees on the floor, clutching her father's pocket watch. She checked the time: 3 a.m.

She pressed her knuckles against closed eyes and took a deep breath, but it didn't calm her. There was only one thing that could make her feel better. She might not have found a way to kill Silas yet, but there was someone else she could pay a visit.

* * *

The door to the boarding house blew off its hinges and clattered into the hallway. Bonnie tramped inside and went straight for the living room. Elena turned a corner and collided into Bonnie; her eyes widened in surprise. "Bonnie," she breathed.

Bonnie flashed her a dark smile. "Hey Elena, I've missed you." She swung her arm out, grabbed Elena's neck, and lifted her off the ground.

The vampire started choking and fruitlessly kicking her feet. Her skin turned wax and grew tight around her bones. Bonnie was desiccating her.

"Bonnie, no!" Jeremy yelled from the stairs. He ran at Bonnie but was sent flying back out the door and into the driveway.

Stefan and Damon ran into the hallway and tried to break Bonnie's grip but she was too strong. The black veins glowed underneath her skin. Elena slowly stopped struggling the closer she got to death. The smile on Bonnie's face widened; she looked deranged.

"Bonnie," Lucy called from behind her. Bonnie turned and Lucy pressed an amber coin to her forehead. Bonnie screamed and dropped Elena to the ground; she immediately started regaining color and weight.

The coin sizzled against Bonnie's head and the veins shriveled away. She passed out and slumped against Lucy. Damon picked up Bonnie and carried her to the basement with Lucy close behind. They left Stefan to take care of Elena and Jeremy.

He laid her on the floor of the cellar that was now covered in blood markings. "You sure this will hold her?" he asked Lucy and he stood back up.

"For now. Until I can get everything I need to help her." They watched Bonnie for a few seconds longer then finally left.

She woke up the next day with an intense headache. "What the fuck?" She couldn't use her magic. She sat up and squinted at the walls.

The door to the cellar scraped open and Elena walked in. Bonnie glared openly at her- as if she hadn't been friends with her for years.

"I didn't think you'd come back like this, Bonnie," Elena said. She rubbed her upper arms as if she were cold. "I didn't believe Lucy when she said you'd turn on us."

"You wouldn't," Bonnie said curtly. She shakily rose to her feet and walked as far away form Elena as possible.

"Bonnie, why are you doing this?"

"Why do you _think_, Elena? Or has being coddled by Stefan and Damon really made you that stupid?" She took a step forward. "Everything bad that's happened has been your fault. My mother abandoned me because of you. My Grams died getting Stefan and Damon out of the tomb for you. Klaus came here and wreaked havoc because of you. My mother was turned because of you. I lost my powers because of you."

"Bonnie-"

She put her hand up. "I'm not finished. We went looking for the cure for you and Jeremy died and I was brainwashed. I died bringing Jeremy back for you. Silas was here and able to kill my father because of you."

She stomped over to Elena and got in her face. "And the whole time you were bouncing between the Salvatore brothers like the self-absorbed whore you are. You are a living _deathtrap_. I should have killed you the night you attacked me…it was a mistake to let you live. You may not be first on my list, but you're definitely not the last."

Elena's eyes filled with tears and started to spill down her face. Bonnie swiped a trail with her thumb and sucked on it. "There is _nothing_ you can say that will make me hate you any less. Did you go back to Damon or have you moved on to Stefan again? Go back upstairs so you can cry in one of their arms."

She stood her ground as Elena backed out of the cell without another word. She closed the door and they looked at each other through the bars. "I'll be seeing you," Bonnie said to her. Elena skittered away crying like the pathetic baby she was.

Bonnie stood by the door for five more minutes. Her shoulders started shaking and then a smile crept onto her face. She started chuckling, then giggling, and then laughing. It turned to full blown cackling.

"NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, knowing they would be able to hear her. She went to the back wall and slid down to the floor. And then she waited.

She couldn't tell how much time passed, but it didn't matter. All she had to do was wait. Because sooner rather than later their plan would fail and she would kill. And then she'd leave. She just sat cross-legged on the floor staring at the door.

The next person to visit her was Damon. He swung open the door and he was seething. That might have scared her once upon a time, but not anymore.

"Hey babe," she said. She sat her elbow on her knee and leaned her chin against it. "Am I in trouble for making your girl cry?"

"I'm not here about Elena," he said.

"Oh so she's with Stefan now?"

He glowered at her. "You killed me."

She waved his anger off. "Don't be so sensitive. You've done it plenty of times."

"Lucy told us what's wrong with you."

"She tried to find me. How did you get something to do the spell?"

"We went to your house."

She stood up. "Did you fuck her?"

Damon shrugged. "I thought about it."

She chuckled. "You said there was something wrong with me. There isn't. This is who I am now."

Damon shook his head. "This isn't who you are. You're stronger than this, Bonnie. You're stronger than all of us."

"Maybe now. But I wasn't always. I had to watch everyone I love die. I wasn't strong enough to save them, but I am now. And I will kill Silas."

"You don't have to do it alone."

"I have to." She ran a hand through her hair.

"Why?"

"So I can be _free. So I can finally live my life away from the cause of all the pain in my life_!" she yelled at him.

He closed the distance between them. "Dammit Bonnie-"

"Why do you care anyways? What does it matter to you what I do or who I am?"

"It just does."

"Because I'm going after Elena? Because I'm your magical fix?"

"No."

"Then what?" she pressed.

He took a step back and turned away from her. "Bonnie-"

"_What is it?_"

"It's because I _care_, okay?" he shouted, exasperated. He turned back to see the look of shock on her face. She didn't that he'd actually be able to say it.

"I care about you," he whispered.

They stared at each other in tense silence as her eyes filled with tears. All it took was for her to reach for him. He hastily pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, curling her hand into his hair.

The kiss held the same desperation as the one in the hotel but there was no anger in it. They broke for air and pressed their foreheads together. He caressed her cheek when a tear slid down it. But it wasn't good enough.

"Caring never saved anyone like me."

She punched a hole right into Damon's abdomen and started stealing the energy stored in his body. Damon dropped to his knees, wide eyed.

"A dormancy spell," she said. She tsk'ed. "Lucy isn't strong enough to keep all of my magic at bay. With your help, I'll be able to leave."

He held onto the arm in his stomach, feeling his life leaving him. Bonnie's eyes turned to black, and the tears traveling down her cheek with them. His vision blurred and his eyes closed. The last thing he heard was Bonnie telling him, "I'm sorry."

* * *

"Damon!"

He shot up from the floor at Elena's call. He tasted blood…not his own. He moved his tongue around in his mouth. It was Bonnie's.

He looked around the cellar room. She was gone.

_Shit_.

He ran upstairs and met everyone in the hallway. Elena was in hysterics and Stefan was trying to calm her down. Caroline had arrived and Lucy was on her way back inside.

"She took him!" Elena wept. "She took Jeremy!"

"She left a trail. We can follow her," Lucy informed them.

"Why would she take Jeremy?" Caroline asked.

Elena only started to cry harder. "She'll kill him. She'll kill him for revenge!"

"Elena, calm down," Stefan said.

Caroline looked to Damon for answers. "Damon what happened?"

"YOU GUYS!" Lucy bellowed. Everyone stopped and looked at her. "If you want to save the boy we have to hurry. We have to go _now_."

Elena did her best to calm herself down. Damon just wanted it all to be over.

"She'll kill us all," he said. "She's going to kill us all as soon as we go."

"Don't say that!" Caroline cried.

Elena was on the verge of losing it again. "We can't just leave Jeremy with her!"

"No, we can't," Damon said. "But you all better be prepared to die. Because Bonnie is out for blood."

"Is this how all your pep talks go?" Lucy sneered.

Damon didn't give a fuck. There was no time for mincing words. Bonnie had played him for the last time; he wasn't playing nice anymore.

"You're either in or you're out. Make your decision now." He looked at each member of the group.

"In," Caroline said.

Stefan nodded. Lucy folded her arms because the answer was obvious. Elena wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Its Jeremy."

Damon clenched his fists at his sides. "We can't go easy on her anymore. Aim to kill. Make it fatal enough for her to fall but something we can heal."

The tension in the room was thick at his grim instructions, but they nodded. Damon inhaled deeply. "Let's go."

It was the first snow of the winter. Bonnie dropped Jeremy by a tree outside of the Salvatore crypt and used her magic to wrap the tree roots around his body. He fought to break himself free, but to no avail. He looked up at Bonnie.

"Bonnie you don't have to do this," he said, trying to reason with her.

She laughed at him. "You're lucky you're even alive right now, Jeremy. You cheated on me after I brought you back to life with a _ghost_. You didn't do anything to bring me back. But I'm not after you."

She cracked her knuckles. "They'll all come for you. And in the end every one of you will fall."

"Don't count on it," Damon said, emerging from the darkness.

"Aren't you tired of losing yet? You could have kept your life if you had stayed behind."

Stefan, Elena, Caroline, and Lucy came up behind Damon. Elena saw Jeremy tied to the tree and vamped out. "I won't let you hurt him, Bonnie."

Bonnie called out the black magic inside of her. "I'd be more worried about yourself."

She lifted her hand and a giant flame ball grew inside of her palm. She threw it out at them, scattering the group. Lucy sent a gust of wind at Bonnie, but it didn't move her. Elena came up and swung; Bonnie ducked and rolled to the side and created a wall of flames that had Elena jumping back once more.

Caroline sped around the wall, grabbed Bonnie by the arms and threw her into the sky; she flipped like a gymnast before disappearing into a flurry of snow.

She reappeared behind Caroline and kicked her in the back; the blond vampire fell forward and quickly dodged tree roots that came shooting out of the ground.

Bonnie felt Stefan and Damon running at her from both sides; she let piles of ice gather above her in the air, formed them into icicles, and set the spearing down at the Salvatores. They were able to dodge most of them, and the few that almost reached them turned back to snow thanks to Lucy.

Elena came back at her, so Bonnie threw more fireballs at her; Elena skipped away from each one. Bonnie aimed a little bit ahead of Elena; she gasped when she was realized she was going to run right into it, but an invisible force threw her back.

Bonnie gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes, sending a shockwave blowing everyone back into the thick mass of trees. She felt the magic inside of her boiling like a volcano about to erupt.

A horde of crows flew from the sky and landed high up on the tree branches, cawing loudly. All of the snow began to fall in one spot to her left; it piled higher and higher into the sky, far above the trees. Her fingertips lit up like a blowtorch. And then she hit everyone at once.

The crows left their perch on the trees and nosedived at Lucy, and she was lost in the mass of flapping black feathers, fighting for her life. The birds moved with her as she ran left and right, trying to escape them. Every so often a dead crow would fall to the ground, or a group of them would be blasted into the sky, but the hole always closed back up.

The four vampires came rushing out of the darkness at her; the first one to be diverted was Stefan. The pile of snow Bonnie had built phased into water that she sent crashing down into Stefan.

He tried to dodge it, but the snow he stepped on turned into slippery ice and he fell backwards; the wave swept him up and into the sky. He managed to swim out of it and landed on his feet on the floor. Stefan panicked and started running.

Caroline was next. The roots from the trees behind them sliced through the ground and wrapped around her arms, neck, and legs. She screamed as they dragged her away; she'd manage to rip one off, but a new root would replace it almost instantly. They moved back into the ground where the earth was softest. Caroline continued to struggle even as it was drawing her into the forest floor.

Damon was running at Bonnie when, suddenly, Rose stepped into his way. He skidded to a halt.

"Hey Damon," she greeted. She waggled her fingers at him in a wave. "Didn't think I'd be here, did you?"

"You're not real."

"What about me?" Alaric stepped up behind him. "Am I real?"

Damon's breaths came out in white huffs. He looked around Rose to where Bonnie was standing, but she wasn't there anymore. Elena and Jeremy had disappeared too. Everyone was gone and the woods were unnervingly quiet.

"This is a hallucination," Damon said to himself.

Rose stepped closer to him and ran her hand across his shoulders. "Even if it was…what could you do about it?"

"She's too powerful, Damon. None of you will make it out of this alive," Alaric said.

Damon shook off Rose and backed away from them. "I can get out of this."

Their faces warped into fangs and red eyes. "You'll have to kill us first," they snarled at him, and then they attacked.

In reality, he had just stopped moving. He stood still as a statue, trapped in Bonnie's illusion.

It only left Elena to face Bonnie. The spiked blue flames at the tip of Bonnie's fingertips coiled out into whips. She flicked her wrists and the cracks of the flame whips echoed into the sky. She brought her left hand down as Elena got closer, and she cartwheeled out of the way. Bonnie swung her right hand and caught Elena on the hip; she yelped in pain but tried to keep moving.

Bonnie flicked her wrists again and the whips caught Elena's calf and she crashed to the floor screaming. Bonnie ran forward and hopped onto Elena; the smell of her burnt flesh was wafting through the air. The whips disappeared from her fingertips. She raised her right hand and a sword of flames appeared in it. The black of Bonnie's eyes seemed to seep out all around Elena, swallowing her in darkness.

"Goodbye, Elena."

Just as she was about to strike, fireworks went off in the air. Bonnie lost her concentration and looked into the sky. An unknown force blasted her off of Elena and rolled Bonnie away from her. She quickly got to her feet and searched around for her adversary.

A firework went off close to her face and blinded her; stars danced before her eyes. She felt a hand grab her arm and another press against her forehead.

Bonnie shrieked as a searing pain filled her entire body. The stars finally subsided to reveal Sophia. Bonnie clutched at the arm connected to the hand on her forehead and gripped Sophia's neck. Sophia's skin started to blister but healed two seconds afterwards. Sophia inhaled and the black veins in Bonnie's body started to absorb into her own body.

The pain intensified and Bonnie's screams raised an octave. The magic that was attacking everyone ended: Jeremy was released, the crows flew back into the sky, the wave stopped chasing Stefan and became snow again, Caroline was able to crawl out of her underground prison, and Damon was freed from the illusion.

The black subsided from Bonnie's eyes to reveal white and green; when it was completely gone, she dropped to the ground unconscious.

Everyone regrouped around Bonnie. Lucy was covered in bleeding cuts and holes; her clothes were ripped and her hair in disarray. Stefan looked like was close to the breakdowns he had recovered from. Caroline was completely brown with dirt.

Parts of Elena's jeans had melted into her skin as it healed and Sophia looked like she was going to be sick. She hunched over with her hands on her knees, dry heaving until blank gunk gushed out of her mouth.

She straightened up, wiped her mouth, and spoke to Lucy. "We have to hurry. It needs to be done now."

Lucy nodded and used her magic to draw a devil's trap into the ground. They placed Bonnie into the circle and they stood on the lines of it. Bunches of angelica and basil sprouted from the ground. Sophia snapped off several vials at her throat and sprinkled them onto Bonnie's body. She nodded at Lucy.

The angelica and basil ignited. "_Mali repellere, dejugo de anima, discutere mala, lapidem in captionem_," they chanted.

Bonnie's body began to seize. Black gunk began to ooze out of her ears, mouth, and eyes. The whole area began to shake. Lucy continued to recite the spell.

"I need you," Sophia called to the group. "Come stand by her. Jeremy and Caroline by the hands, Stefan and Elena by the feet, Damon by her head."

The five moved into their respective places and Sophia chanted the spell with Lucy again. The earth began to shake harder and storm clouds spread across the sky. The winds around them picked up and lightning flashed, but they didn't stop chanting.

Bonnie convulsed uncontrollably and then her back arched. A swirl of black mist came out of her mouth and floated in the air. A large stone at the base of Sophia's neck glowed a bright pink, calling to it; the mist smashed into the stone and a pulse of magic exploded out it, knocking everyone unconscious.

Damon could hear someone calling his name; it reverberated into his brain and started to rouse him. His eyes slowly opened. Someone slapped him.

"Réveillez-toi!" Sophia yelled at him.

He groaned and sat up.

"Hurry, she's dying! She needs blood!"

He blinked away the grogginess and crawled to Bonnie. He bit into his wrist and put it to her mouth; he could hear her faint heartbeat grow louder but she didn't wake up.

"The dark energies were so deeply entwined her soul. It will take a few days for her to regain her strength," Sophia explained. She slowly made her way to Lucy and woke her up too. Together, they brought everyone back from them unconsciousness.

Elena ran over to Jeremy and enveloped him in a hug. Caroline helped Stefan stand. "Is it over?" she asked.

Sophia nodded. She unhooked the necklace and held it in her hand. Damon scooped Bonnie up and they made their way back to the boarding house.

* * *

***wipes away sweat***

**Okay guys the worst part is over now. You have earned your Bamon.**

**I hope everything made sense. I hope you loved it. I hope you continue to. Stay trill.**

**xoxoxoxoxo**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks for the reviews**

**｡◕ ‿ ◕｡**

* * *

The feeling when you first wake up- slowly detaching from the dreams in your mind and becoming aware of your surroundings- is supposed to be surreal and pleasant. But for Bonnie she crash-landed right into consciousness. Her mouth was dry, every muscle in her body ached, and it felt like a million people were drilling into her brain. She groaned when she moved and forced her eyes open.

She blinked a few times and closed them again, wishing she could go back to sleep, but felt a presence in the room and opened her eyes again. She turned her head to the left.

"Welcome back. If that's you in there," Damon said. He sat in a chair by the bed with his legs stretched out and hands folded in his lap.

Bonnie slowly sat up, screaming internally at the extreme throbbing. "Technically, I always was." She had found the time to read up on possession in the Wilson's grimoires; she knew exactly what happened to her, but at the time she hadn't cared.

"Now I know its you, witchy. Always trying to be smarter than the rest of us."

She propped herself against the backboard. She felt sick, but not sick enough to notice the awkward silence between her and Damon.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Two and a half days."

"Oh, wow." She felt like she hadn't slept for weeks.

More awkward silence. She would have started fiddling with her thumbs if she didn't feel like she was dying every time she moved. It even hurt to breathe. She thought about what led her to this moment.

"I remember everything," she told him. Killing innocent witches, trying to kill her friends, traveling with Damon, kissing Damon, her feelings for Damon. Everything.

Damon's eyes widened and his eyebrows went up. "Oh…"

Neither of them spoke, waiting for the other to say something about what they had built and went through, but neither of them did. Bonnie had no idea how to go about starting the conversation; it made her stomach twists into knots.

She wasn't sure how serious Damon had been about her, especially since she had hurt him so many times, and he was a notorious playboy. She didn't want to leap off a cliff and face-plant into the bottom. So she kept her lips shut.

Damon looked away form Bonnie. "I'll tell everyone you woke up." He stood up from his chair and started walking to the door.

"Damon, wait. Could you tell Lucy and Sophia first…if they're still here, that is," she requested.

He nodded and left. Regret hung in the air. She softly banged her head on the headboard and immediately regretted it; she almost passed out.

Lucy barged into the room with Sophia. "Bonnie Bennett, back from the dark side of the moon." She hopped onto the bed, making her cousin bounce up and down; the movement left her in tears.

Sophia walked over and took her hand. Most of the pain ebbed away, but she still felt an intense ache deep inside of her.

"Better?" Sophia asked.

Bonnie nodded in relief. "It hurts…mostly in my chest."

"The dark energies inside of you were too deeply entwined with yours that removing them from you was extremely difficult to do," Sophia explained. "You will be feeling it for some time, but you're lucky to be alive."

"Thank you. I was…completely out of control and I'm just glad you were both here to pull me out of it."

"Witches stick together, Bonnie. Especially Bennetts," Lucy said, smirking.

Bonnie tried not to, but she started crying. "I attacked you guys and I attacked everyone else. I was going to kill everyone." She hiccupped uncontrollably then swallowed it back down. "I killed so many witches. I killed your friend, Lucy! I don't even know how to go about apologizing; sorry isn't good enough!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Lucy cooed. She pulled Bonnie into a hug and let her cry on her shoulder; she tried to comfort her by finger combing her hair. "It wasn't your fault; you were possessed. Meanwhile I tied Katherine and Elena together of my own volition."

"Being possessed doesn't excuse me from what I did!"

"But you can't take all the blame either, Bonnie," Sophia said. "I saw something in you before I brought you back- I knew what it could do to you and I knew you had just lost your father. I should have stayed to make sure you would be okay- to help you fight it- but I left in fear of Silas."

She squeezed Bonnie's hand. "I have been taking care of myself for so long and I had never really learned what it meant to be a witch; Damon taught me what I know. The few friends I had were like me and were solitary. I failed you."

"You just saved my life…all of our lives!" Bonnie argued incredulously.

Sophia shook her head. "Too little, too late. But I am trying to grow from my mistake. I can't let the guilt fester inside of me and neither can you; you have to forgive yourself."

"How?" Bonnie asked, sniffling. How could she forgive herself for all the damage she caused? She had thirsted for power and became weaker than she ever was before.

"I can't tell you how, for we all deal with our emotions in different ways," Sophia answered.

"It won't be easy, Bonnie," Lucy said. "It'll take time, but at least you have a conscience again."

Sophia squeezed her hand again. "But even when you were lost you held onto a sliver of your humanity."

"What are you talking about?"

"You hurt all those people, but wasn't there one person you always seemed to spare?"

Three soft knocks sounded at the door; Caroline poked her head through the door. "Can we…come in?"

Sophia waved her in. "Oh, of course, mon chaton. Come, come."

Bonnie gave Sophia a strange look. "What? She's so cute and she reminds me of the cat I had when I was six; they have the same blue eyes."

"I love the nickname," Caroline said, walking into the room. Elena, Jeremy, Matt, and Stefan filed in after her.

Lucy gave Bonnie a hug and climbed off the bed. "We're gonna go now."

Sophia dipped down and gave Bonnie a hug too. When she tried to stand back up, Bonnie grabbed onto her. "You're leaving?" she asked, disappointed.

"We have some business to take care of. Call us if you need anything."

Everyone watched as they left the room; the group turned back to Bonnie and she immediately started sobbing again, starting a chain reaction that had Caroline and Elena crying, and Matt and Jeremy holding back tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she blubbered.

She continued to cry as everyone tried to calm her down as well as each other.

Sophia and Lucy made their way downstairs and caught Damon making his way up.

"Headed out?" he asked them, leaning against the banister.

"We are. We're going to visit the families of the witches Bonnie had the misfortune of killing," Sophia said

"Oh, the clean up crew. Don't fall off your brooms on the way." He chuckled as he maneuvered past them.

Lucy grabbed his arm. "Hey. Take care of her this time."

He scoffed. "I'm not her keeper. Maybe show up earlier next time."

Sophia pinched his rear. "Don't be mean."

Damon jumped away from her and slapped away her hand. "Goddammit, Sophia. Hurry up and leave already."

"I would think you would be in a better mood since Bonnie is awake now. Must be something else on your mind?"

"Mind your own business."

Sophia tittered and twined her fingers with Lucy. "Au revoir, mon prince noir."

He didn't bother watching them leave. He went to the balcony so he could get out of the house without actually leaving. He was relieved Bonnie was awake, but he didn't expect her to remember everything. Did that make things less or more awkward? His heart had jumped in throat in his throat when she told him to wait.

He had wished she would say something- _anything_- about what had transpired between them…that she'd give some hope that it wasn't all because she was possessed, but that hadn't happened and he shouldn't have been surprised. The last couple wins in his life had made him forget what it felt like to lose.

And that's all that he'd been doing lately! He had hid his disappointment well, but damn was he tired of all of it. He did his part. He helped stop Bonnie. She was back to normal. He was done. It was time to move on from Bonnie Bennett.

Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena laid in bed together-with Bonnie in the middle, Caroline on her right, and Elena on her left-, talking before they fell asleep. It was just like old times, except now two of them were vampires, and the other was a witch who had just come back from a possession and a killing spree.

"You know you looked pretty cool when you were possessed- in an _Exorcism of Emily Rose _way," Elena said.

"And you were badass, besides trying to kill all of us," Caroline added.

Bonnie rubbed her nose to keep from crying again. "You guys are taking all of this really well; its pretty disconcerting."

Caroline giggled. "Its not the first time we've seen you go dark. Creepy professor didn't brain wash you too log ago, remember?"

"And its not like I didn't try to kill you two when I turned off my humanity," Elena said.

Caroline groaned. "Oh my God you were suuuuch a bitch without your humanity."

"Uh, duh. No humanity?"

They dissolved into a fit of giggles. Bonnie was the first to sober. "I said some really terrible things to you, Elena. I'm sor-"

"Bonnie, you don't have to keep apologizing. It wasn't you. It never was, and it never will be again." She interlocked their fingers. "Get some rest, okay? You said you were still sore; you'll feel better in the morning."

They snuggled close together and finally decided to get some sleep. Bonnie only got a couple of hours before she woke up; even though everyone had been understanding, it didn't dull the guilt that she felt.

She couldn't sit here and be coddled by them anymore; it only made her feel worse. She crawled out of bed, exited the room, crept downstairs, and left the boarding house. She stuffed her feet into her shoes and started her long trek home.

* * *

Damon trotted up the steps to the house; before he reached the door, Stefan opened it, holding a football. "Wanna play?" he asked his brother. Damon considered saying no, but he wasn't doing anything at the moment so he went out to the back. They started to toss around the ball

Damon strode into Stefan's room, tossing a football into the air. Stefan looked up from his desk where he was writing in his journal.

"First one to the abandoned cottage where we hid the Original coffins wins. You in?" Damon asked.

Stefan tapped his pen on the desk and thought over the question. Less than a second later, he shot out of his chair, stole the ball from Damon, and was speeding off. Damon cursed and went running after him.

He stole the ball back, then Stefan got it back, then Damon tripped him and stole the ball back. They continued to grapple over the ball until Damon made it to the witch burial ground and slammed the football into the ground.

"Touchdooown!" He yelled. He raised his hands into the air and did a little dance.

Stefan laughed while he waited for him to finish.

Damon ended his dance and put his hands on his hips. "Round 2?"

Stefan patted the dirt off his clothes. "Talked to Bonnie recently?" he asked, nonchalantly.

Damon's face went expressionless and he picked up the ball. "No."

"Hm. Neither has anyone else after she snuck out. It's been a week."

"Wow."

"Elena said she's not answering her calls or her door."

Damon scratched his head. "Sounds like she wants to be alone. You wanna go again or not?"

Stefan stopped him from walking by. "We thought you would know."

"Well I don't. We're not close anymore." Damon shoved Stefan's hand away.

"Why not?"

"I don't know maybe because she punched a hole through me! Among other things!"

Stefan folded his arms across his chest. "Like what?"

"She snapped my neck."

"You snap people's necks all the time!" Stefan argued.

"Whatever that's not the point."

"Then what is the point, Damon, because I'm missing it," Stefan said.

"The point is, brother, is that I've stuck my neck out too many time for her and each time I've gotten burned."

"That's what friends do, Damon. They take chances on the people they care about because, at the end of the day, it's worth it."

Damon scoffed and paced away from Stefan. "We were only friends because she was temporarily a psychopath. It never meant anything. Its better that things go back to the way they used to now that she's herself again."

Stefan looked at Damon in disbelief. "Are you serious? Damon the whole time you were with her you were a different person, a happier person. She made you happy. I thought that was impossible!"

"Very funny."

"I'm being serious. Whenever you get what you want, it turns out its not what you really needed and then you're back to the same old antics. It wasn't like that with Bonnie."

Damon groaned in frustration. He already knew all of this, but it didn't matter!

Stefan walked up to Damon and clasped his shoulder.

"Bonnie was hell bent on permanently killing all of us, except for you. She snapped your neck, but left you safe in the hotel. She stole your life force, but gave you her blood right afterwards. She almost drowned me, buried Caroline alive, sicced feral crows on Lucy, and was going to stab Elena in the face with a sword of fire. What'd she do to you? Made you hallucinate you were fighting two dead friends."

Damon stared at Stefan, trying not to let the words he said get to him. Bonnie hadn't been herself when they were friends. The only reason they were able to bond was because she didn't think he was insane because she was too. They were only able to fool around because she had no morals. She let him feed from her because…because…

"You were the only thing that ever managed to get through to her, underneath the dark energy that was possessing her. It meant something, Damon. And if you don't know what, then maybe you should figure it out by talking to her," Stefan finished.

He patted Damon on the shoulder. "I'll see you at home, brother." He walked away and left Damon to think.

He stood there debating his options. He could continue to ignore Bonnie and eventually he'd probably forget everything that ever happened with them and they would only see each other when somebody wanted to kill one of them, or when they had a way to kill Silas. Or he could talk to her, make a fool out of himself again, and test Stefan's theory.

He ran a hand over his face. He never knew when to give up.

* * *

She felt him before he reached the door. She didn't think he would come, although she was hoping he would. He was the only person that she really wanted to see.

The week she had spent caging herself in her house, she had given what Sophia had said some thought; she was right about Bonnie being merciful to someone and, even if she hadn't said it outright, Bonnie knew she meant Damon. She must really love him, which was fucking terrifying considering it was Damon.

She opened the door- feeling more than a hint of anxiety- and saw Damon visibly tense. She picked at the splintering doorframe without looking at him.

"Where's the Green Day shirt?" he asked.

She looked down at her black sweatpants suit that was extremely warm, comfortable, and revealing in no way. "It's snowing."

"I know. I'm still standing outside."

She rolled her eyes and walked further into the hallway, leaving the door open for Damon to follow. He swaggered inside and stood almost unbearably close to her against the wall; she had missed the proximity. She looked up at him and nibbled on her lip. He wasn't acting like anything was wrong…

"You're avoiding everyone," he stated.

"Well, you were avoiding me," she countered, folding her arms across his chest.

"I _was; _and only you. Singular. You're still avoiding _e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e_. Plural."

"I needed some time alone," she said. She used her left hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her right ear.

"For what? Weren't you alone for like two months?"

She sighed and walked into the living room. Stacks and stacks of grimoires were against the farthest wall. "For this."

He scrunched his face up. "You were reading for the whole week? Taking book worm to a whole new level aren't you?"

"What? No!" A quick snort escaped from her despite her lack of laughing mood. "I hate you for making me laugh; it's not even funny." She rubbed her forehead, distressed. This was the physical proof of Bonnie's transgressions, of her betrayal to her own kind.

"Okay, so why are you cooped up in your house Emily Dickinson? Good job cleaning up, by the way; your house was in shambles last time I was here. Shame about the television…"

She continued to rub her forehead to try and destress, ignoring the comment about the TV that was still face down on the floor; she hadn't tried to move it, she just cleaned the glass around it. She could feel her emotions getting the better of her. She paced back and forth looking for a way to just say what was on her mind.

Damon was not going to wait around forever. "Spit it out, Bennett!"

She jumped. She opened her mouth to say something, closed it, opened it, and then closed it again. Damon looked at her expectantly. She finally broke, bursting into tears.

"I did terrible things! I've hurt so many people. I've _killed_, Damon. I tried to kill all of you! I don't know how to fix this…" She gestured to the grimoires. "I don't know how to face everyone."

"You already saw everybody. And besides we've all wasted a few nonessentials," Damon said, shrugging like it was no big deal. But it was a big deal; Bonnie had prided herself in her humanity when everyone around her seemed to lack

She shook her head in disagreement. "This is different."

"How?"

"_Because I enjoyed it!" _she yelled. That was what had haunted her the most. She remembered the thrill that shot up her spine each time she knocked on the door of her next unsuspecting victim. She remembered how amazing it was to taste a witch's power with the first touch before she made her move. It was intoxicating as much as it was fulfilling for Bonnie when she was possessed.

"So did I!" Damon yelled back. "And so did Stefan! Elena! Caroline! We all enjoyed the kill! And they may never say so, but the craving never goes away. Bonnie-" He grabbed her arm and she promptly snatched it away.

"That wasn't supposed to be me!" She took a seat on the couch. "But it what I became. I wanted to find those witches and I wanted to kill them. I loved using my magic on them. I can feel it, you know? I can feel all of this power bubbling within me and all of it isn't even mine!" The lights flickered and somewhere, something broke.

"Can you feel the lives you've destroyed in you? Because I can…each one. Every person that I've hurt pulsing inside of me. And I hate it. I hate how it feels so good. I hate how it makes me feel stronger. I hate how it makes me afraid."

"What could you possibly be afraid of at this point?"

"I'm afraid the greed and the wrath will come back. I'm afraid that next time I won't be stopped and I'll…I'll-" _I'll kill all of you._

He knelt down in front of her. "I will never let that happen. I will always be there to bring you back." She tried to look away so he grabbed her face.

"That may not all be your power now, but it was you who saved us from the witches on the other side. You did what Emily and Sheila couldn't…what that old hag couldn't; you were able to use all of your magic when it shouldn't have been possible. That was all you, Bonnie." She started to protest but he continued.

"And even before then you held more power than any of your predecessors. The greed and the wrath didn't create that power; it opened your mind to comprehend strength that you couldn't fathom, that you didn't believe in. It made you realize the power inside of you is boundless. You don't have to be afraid because you control it, not the other way around."

He finally managed to get her to look him in the eyes.

"You were always the best of all of us. You fix, and you save, and you never asked for anything in return. You're honest and loyal and even when you're disgustingly judgmental you end up being right."

He wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "We've all come back from the darkness, Bonnie, but none of us were ever alone- even if we wanted to be. You don't have to be either. So stop running. I'm not anymore."

"What were you running from?"

He licked his lips and seemed to struggle with what to say next. "You asked why I was avoiding you. It was because I didn't know if any of it was real; I didn't know if we were only friends because you were being possessed. I didn't know if everything that happened between us happened because you weren't really you. I avoided you because I didn't want you to tell me it wasn't. I wanted it to be real."

He took a deep breath before saying his next sentence. "Because…I love you."

She looked at Damon in disbelief. Did those words just come out of his mouth? Maybe she hadn't woken up from the exorcism yet. Maybe she had actually died. She kept thinking about scenarios that could have made this possible when she realized Damon was waiting for her to say something. She calmed down considerably- but a few tears still streaked down her face- and lightly grasped Damon's wrist.

It was now or never. If she choked now, she doubted Damon would give her a fourth or fifth or whatever chance. "Being with you was the only time I still felt like me, and when you were gone I thought about you every single day. From the moment I knew that I loved you, I knew I was going to have to leave. If I had stayed once you found out, I don't think I would have been able to keep going because you gave me my humanity."

Relief flooded Damon's face. She smiled at him, and he leaned into her. He brushed his lips against hers in a gentle caress, and then pressed them together fully. He slowly licked her her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to let his tongue in. She clenched the side of his shirt when they started to move against each other more vigorously.

He pushed her back onto the couch, settling himself in between her legs. He ran both hands up the sides of her body underneath her sweatshirt and over her breast before pulling it off. Bonnie quickly helped to unbutton and pull Damon's shirt off and tugged him back down to her, pressing their naked skin together and kissing him.

He split them apart and kissed down her neck and torso, sparing some time to lick around her nipple before closing his mouth around it as he slid off her pants and panties. He gave the same attention to her other breast, then was lowering himself down her body again.

They watched each other as he got closer and closer. She almost couldn't stand the way his eyes bore into her; the intensity of his blue eyes made her want to go crazy. She didn't want to be reserved and controlled with him like she had with Jeremy. She wanted to open herself completely. She wanted to scream. Bonnie shivered in anticipation.

He put open-mouthed kisses on the inside of her thighs and then, finally, got to the middle. Bonnie arched her back at the warmth of his tongue. She felt him hum against her as he continued to lick. Her breaths came out in breathy pants and she got wetter and wetter. He started sucking on her clit and she couldn't stop herself from moaning out loud.

She could feel it building inside of her, making her squirm and her toes curl; it felt like microscopic lightning bolts were jumping down to the depths of her stomach until she couldn't hold it in anymore.

Damon yelped when she orgasmed and came back up to her. His hair stood a bit on end. "You shocked me!"

Bonnie blinked rapidly to clear her head. "I what?"

"You electrocuted me." He dipped down and kissed her; Bonnie could feel tingles on her lips and tongue. Well that was new…her magic was on the fritz though.

He pulled back from her and nuzzled her neck. "Do it again," he murmured against her, unbuckling his belt and kicking off his jeans.

"Are you a masochist?" Bonnie asked. She chuckled and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Must be," he said, turning his face and smiling against her lips. He stuck his tongue inside her mouth and rolled it around with hers. He pushed her knees up and slid inside of her. She gasped into his mouth when he went all the way and pressed into her.

He started off slow, stroking in and out of her fully, gently biting her bottom lip and nipping at her jaw while keeping eye contact with her. Bonnie wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto him; he sped up and she couldn't keep her eyes open, getting lost in the feel of him. He moaned whenever she tightened her walls around him, and started thrusting faster.

Bonnie dug her nails into his back and felt another orgasm coming; she came again, this time actually feeling an electrical current pass out of her. Damon moaned loudly and pressed his head against her shoulder. He could hear sparks popping on his skin. When he raised his head, his fangs were protruding from his mouth.

Bonnie tightened her grip at the sight of them. Damon lifted her butt off the couch so he could go even deeper.

"Oh, God!" she yelled. She was about to come again. Bonnie looked into Damon's eyes and knew what he wanted.

"Do it," she said, trying to keep it together, practically begging for him to take her in every way possible.

He bit into her as she came for the third time, pleasure rippling throughout her body in long, steady streams as Damon drank from her. Halfway through her own screams he unlatched his mouth from her shoulder and groaned, coming with her. The air around them buzzed with static, and the sweat on their bodies created steam.

They laid on the couch, regaining their breath with their foreheads pressed together. "I love you," she told him. She opened her eyes and green met blue. In that moment it felt like Bonnie had never lost herself. It felt like a chunk of her hadn't been taken, corrupted, and demolished. It only felt like she had gained an extra part of her. "I love you," she said again.

Damon pushed her heir out of her face and kissed her. "I love you too."

* * *

Bonnie woke up in her bed late in the morning. For the first time since she got back to normal, she had a pleasant awakening. Maybe it was because she was wrapped up in Damon's strong arms, pressed up against him with her head on his chest. She shifted upwards and kissed his cheek. He stirred awake and kissed her full on the lips.

She couldn't help the smile that lit up her face when she pulled away. "Good morning."

"Morning," he said stretching his arms and then rested his hand on her bare hip. He looked extremely satisfied, like a cat with a full stomach lying on a heating pad.

"You're glowing," Bonnie said. She kissed his neck and then his ear.

"What?"

"You're glowing so bright you look like a pregnant woman right now," she teased. He looked happy albeit not that happy, but it was hilarious.

"Shut the hell up. I'm not glowing," he said, glaring up at the ceiling. But his ears turned red.

Bonnie squealed in delight. "Oh my God _who are you_! Have I entered the twilight zone?" Damon blushing? What a dork! She really must be dead. She loved it; it was too endearing.

"Oh my God are you so fucking annoying?" He imitated her voice and rolled on top of her. He gave her a long kiss and Bonnie curled her fingers into his hair. He pulled back from her.

"I never thanked you for saving my life," she said to him. "So, thank you."

"As long as you don't get that stick up your ass again."

"_Nothing_ will be going up my ass. Trust me."

Damon considered what she just said. "Maybe one thing?"

Bonnie laughed out loud. "No, I don't think so."

"Dammit."

She linked her fingers behind his neck. "You are an idiot." She pulled him down so she could kiss him. She coiled her leg around his and felt him get hard. She flipped them over so she was on top of him. She nibbled at his neck and up his chin before covering his mouth with hers.

She never wanted to stop kissing him. She never wanted him to stop touching her. His hands, and the rest of his body, were warm and cold at the same time but left her skin burning as they slid away. He reached down in between them and she raised herself up a bit, and slowly took him inside of her.

She sat up and started to rock against him, placing her hands on his chest. He rested his on the swell of her hips, looking up at her. She moved faster against him and let out a moan. His grip tightened on her and he thrusted up into her as she ground into him even faster.

Damon moaned Bonnie's name and his eyes fluttered shut. Their voices grew louder each time their hips connected. The room filled with the sound of squeaky bedsprings and flesh striking flesh. Bonnie let her head fall back and shuddered as she peaked.

Damon continued to move below her until he came moments later. He tangled his hand in her hair and brought her lips down to him. Then her stomach growled.

Damon looked at her like she grew a second head. "Uhhh…"

Bonnie hopped off of Damon and hid her face in a pillow as he started laughing. "That's never happened before!" she cried out, muffled by the pillow.

Damon pulled her into his arms. "That's what I get instead of electric shocks?"

"Shut up." Her stomach growled again.

"Want me make you something?" Damon asked.

Bonnie peeked up at him. "You can cook?"

He threw back the covers and got off the bed. "I was friends with a chef once."

She rolled onto her stomach and watched as he put his boxer briefs on. "You only ever have one type of friend that you actually learn things from."

"You're right." He dodged a pillow Bonnie threw at him. "What do you want to eat?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Do you have ingredients to make pancakes?" he asked.

"Maybe. If not…surprise me." He went downstairs. She twisted into her sheets and couldn't stop smiling.

If someone had told three months ago that Damon would be making her pancakes after they just had sex, she would laugh in their face. It would be a really obnoxious laugh too, with spit flying everywhere and splitting her sides. But here they were in some sort of alternate universe where he was an actual human being and she more than enjoyed his company.

And they loved each other.

She jumped off her bed, put on some socks, and pulled her sheets off to wrap the around her. She went to the living room and buttoned into Damon's shirt before going down the hall to the kitchen. He was already frying the pancakes when she walked in. He smirked at her and pulled the front of his shirt to drag her to him. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

"You look good in my clothes. I prefer it when you don't wear anything though."

"I'm sure you do." She stepped back and hopped onto the counter. A minute later he handed her a plate of pancakes and a fork. He hovered over her as she cut off a triangle and bit into hit. "This is delicious."

"You're delicious," he said. He grazed her neck with his fangs and she shivered.

She pushed him away before the pancakes ended up not getting eaten. "Can you pass me the syrup?"

"Why don't you just 'float it on over'?'' he asked, using her own words against her.

She ate another triangle to avoid his eyes. "I'm not using my magic right now."

"Why not?"

This was the last thing she wanted to talk about, but she looked up at him and said, "You know why."

Her obvious damp in mood didn't seem to bother him, and he didn't seem to care or understand that this was a topic she didn't want to discuss right now. "You can't hide from it forever."

She put her plate down. "Where did Sophia and Lucy go?"

"They went to go visit families of the witches you killed."

Okay she had been expecting it to be something like that, maybe, but she was taken aback at his bluntness. The answer only made her more upset."Everyone's taking care of me. Everyone is trying to make it easier, but its not. It's so hard. I can't-"

She stopped mid-sentence and pulled Damon closer to her. "I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to be with you. I didn't think I'd ever get to. Can't we just do that?"

He watched her for a while like he was about to argue with her, but a smirk rose up on his face. "Fine you don't have to deal with it right now, but only because I'm hungry. So hurry up and finish your pancakes."

A wide smile lit up Bonnie's face. "Then pass me the syrup."

* * *

**Words cannot express how difficult it was to write this chapter because I just didn't feel like it. Also, I started school. Also, I'm sick af.**

**Oh yeah there was a question about the spell Sophia performed. ****The spell Sophia did was just like an exorcism and then she collected all that evil energy in a physical object so now that there's a little less of it floating around. I guess. LOL.**

******K till next time you beautiful people. Xoxoxoxo**


End file.
